


there's nothing in this world i wouldn't do

by EarlGreyAguilar



Series: Critical Six [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series), Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Allusion to an eating disorder, Angst, Character Development, Comfort, F/F, F/M, Other, canon to dnd typical violence, found family trope, ship shenanigans in every sense of the phrase, spoilers for Critical Role campaign 1
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:28:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 27,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28260906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EarlGreyAguilar/pseuds/EarlGreyAguilar
Summary: When The Six go missing, Mary Dwendal and Lizzie Boleyn must work together with unlikely friends to make the treacherous voyage from Wildemount to Tal'Dorei across the Frigid Depths to save their family and their Empire.On the long journey, they will learn more about each other and their world than they could have ever guessed, and create bonds they've only heard about in stories.But will the journey be worth it? Or will it only lead to more heartbreak?Set about 7 years after the battle at the end of Shades of Sun and Shadow
Relationships: OC/OC, OC/OC/OC
Series: Critical Six [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026967
Comments: 10
Kudos: 15





	1. The Prodigal Daughter

A woman approaches Castle Dwendal as the sun sets on the city of Rexxentrum. She is alone, wrapped in a thick black robe to ward against the biting cold, a longsword hanging at her side. The guards at the door stand to attention, calling for her to halt. She lowers her hood and produces a holy symbol from her cloak. It glows with warm daylight, and the familiar crack in the stone emblem sets the guards at ease. They nod, lowering their weapons, and let her pass.

She enters the castle, weaving through the winding halls to reach the throne room with the ease of someone well acquainted with the interior of the labyrinth. She waves away the guard wishing to announce her presence formally. “I want to surprise her,” she says, and he bows, backing away. She rests her hand on her sword, taking a deep breath before pushing open the doors.

Empress Elizabeth is seated on the throne, wearing her monk robes of the Cobalt Soul. She is half listening to another lecture about the importance of decorum from Jane Seymour. Her mother and step-mother stand to the side, discussing a matter that would only go over the fifteen-year-old’s head. Katherine Howard sits, fiddling with a musical instrument. Anna of Cleves sits a foot away, playing with a knife. Catherine of Aragon stands off to the right, keeping watch over her family.

When Mary Dwendal enters, there is a moment of silence as they all regard each other. She glances around, taking in the scene, before turning her attention to Elizabeth. 

“Your Majesty,” Mary says, inclining her head. 

“Lady Mary,” Elizabeth replies, voice cold. 

“Mary!” Aragon exclaims. “We didn’t know you would be visiting! How are you?”

“Just a moment, Mother,” Mary says, glancing at her, before refocusing on her half-sister. “It is only proper for me to address the Empress first.”

“Oh, of course,” Aragon says quickly. 

Mary stares at Elizabeth, whose expression is still stony. Then the cleric smiles, opening her arms. “Do I get a hug?” 

Elizabeth sags in relief, running up to Mary, clutching her tight. 

And in the blink of an eye finds herself grappled. 

Mary immediately faces down swords and readied spells. She glares at her mother. “I knew it,” she snarls. “Always choosing others over me.” 

Aragon’s face is cold. “Let her go,” she says in a low voice, raising her sword a little higher. 

“Stapleton, open the door,” Mary orders. Stapleton stiffly does as Commanded. 

“Stop!” Aragon barks. Stapleton does not respond to the paladin, opening the side door.

“She doesn’t have a lot of choice in the matter,” Mary sneers, dragging a struggling Elizabeth towards the door. “Close it behind you,” she says, backing through the doorway. Stapleton follows her, doing as instructed. Elizabeth tries to bite Mary. “Oh no you don’t,” Mary says, slamming the hilt of her sword into the redhead’s temple. The Empress immediately goes limp.

“The bag she keeps. With the gold. Grab it from her room and bring it to me,” Mary says, hoisting the unconscious monk over her shoulder. “And be quick about it.” 

Stapleton leaves and comes back with a simple black side pack. Mary takes it, slinging it over her shoulder. She smirks and gives a two-fingered salute to the fighter. “Good to see you, Stapleton,” she says, before turning and opening a secret passage leading to the outside, leaving the castle behind.

She walks a distance before dropping the girl to the ground in a heap. Elizabeth groans, clutching her head, taking in her surroundings. She sees Mary digging through her bag. She jumps on the cleric with a cry, grabbing for her bag, wrestling it away from the young woman. She shields it with her body as Mary tries to grab it back before abruptly blinking out of sight.

“What-?” Mary asks, whirling around.

And Mary disappears too.

**********

_“Ça n’est pas dangereux?”_

_“Si, Mary, lo hiciste!”_

Lizzie hugged Mary tight, and Mary immediately responded, holding her close, her body finally relaxing with her sister safe in her arms. She pulled back, brushing Lizzie’s hair out of her face, longer than the last time she saw her, checking her for injuries. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Lizzie grinned. “Nope!” 

Mary helped her up, looking down at the necklace Lizzie had slipped over her neck. “So they can’t see us?”

“Or hear us, yeah,” Lizzie said, showing Mary her matching necklace.

“Good,” Mary said, her eyes hardening. “Now tell me what the hell happened to our family.”


	2. Gone Missing

“They just…disappeared?” Mary asked, trying to make sense of what Lizzie was telling her.

“One by one. They took Mama first. Mom figured it out and was able to tell me before they took her too. They got Aunt Kat and Aunt Anna, and then your mom.” Lizzie wrapped her arms around herself, shuddering. “Jane helped me enough to contact you, but then it was just me and Stapleton.”

“Is she going to be okay?” Mary asked. 

Lizzie nodded. “Whoever,” she shuddered, “or _whatever_ they are, they don’t seem to know how powerful she is. They took Manser and Mouat too, but Stapleton has been playing dumb. She knows what she’s doing.”

“Thank Pelor,” Mary murmured. “But…do you know who they are? _What_ they are?” 

Lizzie shook her head. “They’re awful, whatever they are,” she said. “It’s like they’re parodies of The Six.”

“Did you see that thing pretending to be my mother?” Mary said, incredulous. “And Anne would never have just stood there while you were being taken, no matter _who_ I was.” 

Lizzie just shook her head again. “I just hope they’re okay,” she said softly. 

Mary wrapped an arm around her sister’s shoulders. _“I’m_ just amazed you were able to get in contact with me. And these!” she said, pulling her necklace out to inspect it. It was a smooth round stone, thin, flat, and unassuming, but Mary could feel the magic emanating from it. “How did you manage it?” 

“Mama had one for her and one for me when I was little,” Lizzie responded, holding her stone. “It kept her hidden from anyone looking for her,” She paused, clenching her jaw, before continuing, “and I think it just made her feel better knowing I couldn’t be found, at least by magic.”

Mary just squeezed her shoulder, pushing aside the memories of the darker time. “Well, it did a good job.” Lizzie gave her a small smile. “You mentioned you have a lead?”

They were walking through the plains westward from Rexxentrum towards Erdeloch, an inlet harbor, two days' journey away from the capital city. The sisters were on their guard as they spoke, keeping constant watch as the sun kept them warm despite the growing cold of the approaching winter. Mary was glad she had picked up a warm cloak for Lizzie on the way to the capital as Lizzie drew it tight around her body. 

“Yes,” Lizzie replied. “I did some digging through old Assembly records,” she reached a hand up to Mary’s where it sat on her shoulder to squeeze it, knowing her discomfort with the subject. “There was information about studies on a similar type magic a _long_ time ago by a couple who worked with the Assembly for a while. Sylas and Delilah Briarwood.” 

Mary frowned. “Those names sound familiar.”

“They were defeated a long time ago. When that secret guy tried to become a god?” 

Mary’s eyes widened. “ _Vecna?_ They worked with _him_?” her voice was filled with horror and disgust at the mention of the archlich who had terrorized Exandria for a short time. 

“Yeah. I wasn’t able to find a lot of specifics on them besides their names and that they were defeated in Tal’Dorei. They fled there, and that’s where the Assembly records stop.” 

Mary dragged a hand down her face with a groan. “Tal’dorei is a big continent, Lizzie. We’re going to need something more specific.” 

Lizzie shrugged helplessly. “It’s all I’ve got. Maybe they’re better known there and we can ask around?”

Mary shook her head, brow furrowed. “I don’t think that’s the type of thing we want to be bringing up in casual conversation.” Then her face brightened. “But, I have made some friends that might be able to help.”

Lizzie lit up with a grin, and Mary saw the first spark of the old Lizzie that she had left in Rexxentrum two years ago. “Are these 'friends' the reason you haven’t visited?” she teased, and Mary blushed. 

“I’m sorry,” she said, rubbing her neck. “I know I said I’d visit, but I was trying to…” she gestured wildly as if attempting to grab the words out of the air.

“I’m joking,” Lizzie said with a laugh, giving Mary’s shoulder a gentle shove. “You seem happier. Lighter,” she added.

Mary shrugged. “I suppose.”

“So, who are they?” Lizzie asked with a wide grin.

“Well actually,” Mary said, glancing around. “We’re meeting one of them here.” 

Lizzie looked around. There looked to be a town a long ways down the road only barely visible in the low light, and a few trees scattered around the landscape nearby. “Are they late?” 

Mary rolled her eyes. “Nearly always,” she said, but the exasperation seemed good-natured. 

“Nearly,” said a deep voice from behind them, “But not this time.”

Lizzie spun, crouching in a defensive position, and Mary yelped in alarm, scrambling back. She recovered immediately, yelling “TACK!”

Standing in front of them, hands up in mock surrender, was a large man in his mid-twenties, well over six feet tall, broad shoulders filling out a black coat with light blue trim. He wore well-worn black boots with brown pants and a loose off-white cotton shirt. The coat and shirt seemed like they had been pulled apart and stitched back together many, many times. 

He had a beard that didn’t cover his chin but lined the sides of his jaw and he had pulled his shaggy black hair back into a short ponytail, with some stray locks escaping it to whip around his tan face. His brown, nearly black eyes and lopsided grin screamed mischief as he tipped his tricorn hat to Mary, which only seemed to infuriate her further.

“Tack, what is _wrong_ with you?” Mary demanded. 

“Quite a lot, if you and Elaina are to be believed,” he said, before turning his gaze from Mary to face Lizzie. 

Lizzie could have sworn she saw a flash of recognition, but it was so fast, it might have been her imagination. He removed his hat and gave an exaggerated bow, sweeping his arm behind him. “I am Tack, The Insufferable,” he said grandly, and Lizzie couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Don’t encourage him,” Mary huffed, which only made Lizzie laugh harder. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Tack,” Lizzie said, bowing in return. “My name is Lizzie.”

“Well, Lizzie,” he said, straightening, “I do hope you won’t be taking my place as ‘Chief Nuisance’ aboard _The Revenge?_ ”

“No,” Mary growled, “You have that post on lock, Captain Idiot. Congratulations.”

Lizzie was grinning wider than she had in months. “This is amazing.”

“You are _not_ corrupting her,” Mary said, taking Lizzie by the shoulders and leading her in the direction of the town just visible in the setting sun. 

Tack shrugged, thrusting his hands in his pockets and following them. “I would _never,_ ” he said in a tone that made it clear that he _absolutely_ would at the first opportunity. “Also, sundown is in about an hour, so let me know when you want me to take the lead.”

“I hate you.”

“I know.”


	3. Chapter 3

Though Tack had mostly won Lizzie over with his easy-going, fun demeanor, she had to admit that there was just one thing that bothered her about the man.

He kept calling her _‘kid.’_

She knew she had to play a part right now. She was the little half-sister, raised in a monastery turned corrupt, rescued thanks to her big, powerful older sister, but _gods_ , she was not some innocent little child, not anymore. Not after the things she had _done_ -

She took a deep breath to steady herself, forcing herself to relax. He didn’t know. He didn’t understand. And this was who she had to be. She reached into her robes to touch the book she had brought, the one personal possession she had allowed herself, and let the familiar ridged spine comfort her. She resigned herself to keeping to her own company for the majority of the trip if only to keep her sanity.

She was nearly vibrating with excitement to see the ocean for the first time. Nervous, too. But mostly excited. She had read so much about ships and sea life and navigation, spent so much time learning all things maritime, just for fun, never thinking she would ever actually get to see this world that had seemed so unattainable her entire life. 

Tack slowed to match pace with Lizzie. “I pissed her off again,” he said, and Lizzie bit back a laugh as Mary stomped off ahead. “You seem excited,” he added, raising a brow at her.

“I am!” Lizzie said, relieved to not have to act about this eagerness at least. “I’ve never seen the ocean before.”

Tack’s smile softened. “It’s one of the most beautiful sights in all of Exandria,” he said. “You learned from books, I take it? Or stories?” he asked, and Lizzie nodded. “Let me tell you, kid,” and Lizzie couldn’t bring herself to be angry this time, not when he spoke with such reverence and promise, making her feel once more like the seven-year-old whose whole world was stories and songs.

“Whatever was in those books is _nothing_ compared to the real thing.”

**********

Tack was right. Lizzie couldn’t express how _right_ Tack was. Her books could never have prepared her for this. 

The sound of the waves hitting the bluffs was like a siren song, inviting, no, _demanding_ she venture forth to explore their depths. The sparkling clear waters were enough to take her breath away and the salt in the air enough to make her forget the chill of the approaching winter settling in her bones. 

She heard Tack’s heavy gait approaching as he settled next to her at the edge of the cliff. “Not so bad, eh?” he said in a quiet, reverential tone as if knowing better than to ruin this moment.

“It’s so beautiful,” Lizzie whispered. 

Tack smiled, a gentle, kind smile, not like the teasing grin he wore with Mary. “Let’s get you to the ship, Lizzie,” he said. “And you can see it up close.”

“Is she almost done?” Lizzie asked, still not able to tear her eyes from the sight before her.

Tack snorted. “Sometimes it feels like if May isn’t scrying, she’s spending her time trying to calculate how many spells she can spare to scry a day and when. It just about drives Elaina nuts, asking about the date, what time it is here, and what time it is elsewhere.” 

Lizzie giggled then sobered as she realized a lot of that scrying was most likely trying to make sure she and their family were safe. Then she frowned as something else Tack said registered.

“Did you say ‘May’?” she asked.

Tack gave her a sidelong look. “Yes. Your sister’s name. Unless that’s not her name…?”

Lizzie’s mind scrambled to think of an excuse. “Yes, I’m just…not used to hearing her name…shortened that way,” she finished lamely.

Tack cocked an eyebrow. “Don’t s’pose you feel like tellin’ me what it’s short for?”

There was only one way to salvage this. Lizzie looked him dead in the eye. 

“Mayonnaise.”

Tack’s eyes widened and Lizzie could tell he was fighting hard not to laugh. “I know you’re lying,” he said in a choked voice, “And I don’t care. At all. Lizzie, you have just given me the greatest of gifts.” He ruffled her hair before leaping to his feet. “Hurry up, _May_! You’ve got to have found Elaina by now!”

Lizzie supposed she should feel bad, but she really didn’t.

**********

As the three approached the ship anchored a little ways away from land, Tack removed his jacket and hat. “I’ll go get the lifeboat,” he said, before taking a running leap into the water. He was soon tearing through the waves, at what seemed to Lizzie an impossibly fast pace. 

“Show off,” Mary muttered before grabbing Lizzie, who had taken a few steps towards the water as if possessed. “Oh no you don’t!” she exclaimed. Lizzie pouted up at her sister. “Do you know how to swim?” Mary asked, already knowing the answer.

“…no,” Lizzie grumbled. 

“You’re acting like a child, Lizzie. It’s just water.” 

Lizzy sighed. It wasn’t _just_ water. It was the _ocean_. 

They waited in silence before Lizzie called out “He’s almost back!”

Sure enough, tearing back towards them through the water was Tack, rowing as fast as he could. Lizzie took off before Mary could stop her. “LIZZIE!” Mary yelled, grabbing Tack’s coat and hat from the sand before taking off after her sister. 

Tack laughed as Lizzie ran through the water with less resistance than she was expecting. “Whoa there, kid!” he said, grabbing her arm to steady her as she tripped in the surf, nearly hitting her face on the edge of the lifeboat. “Let’s get you in the boat before you swallow a lungful of seawater.” He lifted her out of the ocean as if she were weightless despite her robes being completely waterlogged, and set her down in the boat next to him. “It looks pretty,” he said in a conspiratorial whisper, “but it tastes awful.” Lizzie just laughed, giddy at the alien feeling of the saltwater in her hair, shaking it out like a wet dog as Tack howled a token protest.

Mary splashed up to them. “What on earth were you thinking?” Mary demanded, swatting away Tack’s helping hand, climbing into the boat across from Lizzie on her own. “You could have gotten hurt!” 

Lizzie shrugged. “But I didn’t.”

“But you could have!”

“But-”

“But she didn’t, and she won’t because we’ll teach her to swim,” Tack said calmly, interrupting the bickering sisters.

Mary narrowed her eyes. “We’re not on the ship yet, _Captain_ ,” she said in a low voice, hissing the title like it was a dirty word.

Tack raised an eyebrow. “Would you prefer to swim to _The Revenge_?” he asked, voice sugar-sweet, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, goading her. “Because, if I do recall, we _had_ agreed that the lifeboat counts as part of the ship.”

“You and Elaina agreed,” Mary shot back.

“And that’s two out of three,” Tack grinned. “Majority rules.”

“Whatever,” Mary said, looking away pointedly. Tack rolled his eyes and began to row them towards the large ship. 

“Tack?” Lizzie asked.

“Yeah?”

Lizzie grinned. “Can we go fast?”

Tack laughed as Mary’s head swiveled to glare, first at her sister, then at Tack, as if to say _Don’t you dare._

“I think we’re gonna get along just fine, kid,” Tack said, before rowing the lifeboat as fast as he could, spraying water as they nearly flew through the waves, roaring with laughter as Mary and Lizzie yelled, one in panic, the other in sheer delight, the whole way to the ship.

  
  


**********

Mary climbed onto _The Revenge_ first, pulling Lizzie on board with Tack helping to hoist her up from below. 

“Ya got her?”

“Yes.”

“Great. Jay! Help me out with the dingy!” 

Lizzie heard heavy, lumbering footfalls approaching and saw something rather strange.

Lizzie had seen half-orcs before. And this person did seem to be a half-orc. But something seemed different about them. They were nearly as tall as Tack, which wasn’t so strange. But their skin wasn’t the deep green she was familiar with. Instead, it was gray, with just a tint of light green; not at all like the half-orcs she had met before. Short tusks jutted out from their lower jaw, a strong jaw, which paired with their long, sea-tossed black hair gave them a curious androgynous look. 

They wore armor that didn’t quite make sense to Lizzie, portions of heavy plate, but no full pieces. There were patches of leather armor as well, but again, not covering some of the vulnerable areas armor was normally used for. Their eyes were a dark gray, and they widened in fear when they saw Lizzie, and though a black longsword hung at their side, they didn’t reach for it.

“What’s wrong-?” Mary started before spotting the seemingly frozen half-orc. She immediately pushed Lizzie behind her, grabbing her symbol of the Dawnfather, and holding it out. “Get back!” she yelled and released a pulse of divine energy. The half-orc didn’t react, simply leaning their head back slowly, keeping their eyes trained on Mary, and Lizzie realized it was a delayed reaction of uncertainty.

“Jay!”

“Coming,” the half-orc, Jay, responded just loud enough to carry, eying Mary’s holy symbol and giving her a wide berth before going to help Tack on board. 

“Thanks!” Tack said, swinging on board and grabbing a rope to help Jay raise the lifeboat.

“What is that?” Mary shrieked, again pushing Lizzie behind her. 

Tack turned sharply. “This is my best friend,” he said in a quiet voice. Not threatening, but a clear warning. “Jay Grey.” He fixed Mary with a stern look. “They are my friend. Put that away,” he said, nodding to her symbol. 

Mary narrowed her eyes, pocketing her holy symbol, but not letting it go. “Does Elaina know about this?” she asked.

Tack turned back to untying the knot fixing the rope to the ship. “Let’s check, shall we?” he said, before calling over his shoulder, “Elaina!” 

There was loud stomping before, from below deck appeared a short, slender woman, perhaps a little taller than Lizzie, in her early twenties. Her black hair reached just past her shoulders, kept back by a pair of brass goggles, and her tan face and slightly pointed ears showed traces of her elven heritage, her calculating blue eyes assessing the situation quickly. 

She wore a black and gold jacket over a pristine white shirt and fingerless gloves. A necklace of colorful beads stood out above her shirt and she wore loose black pants tucked into short, sea-weathered black boots. A length of rope was affixed to her hip, and she wielded a strange sword, a little longer and narrower than an average short sword, with gears at the base of where most similar weapons might have a cross guard before meeting the hilt. Upon realizing there was no immediate danger, she pointed the sword at Tack, fixing him with a death glare.

“What.”

“Have you met Jay?”

Elaina huffed. “Did you interrupt me to ask pointless questions?”

“Yes.”

“I hate you.”

“I know.”

Lizzie was beginning to see a pattern.

Elaina turned her glare to Mary. “Is he trying to prove a point to you?”

Mary nodded and Elaina rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’ve met Jay, no,” she held up a hand to cut off Mary’s response, “they’re not evil, yes they’re undead, and no, I don’t care. They’re going to help with your 'stuff,’” she said gesturing to Lizzie with her empty hand, “so maybe accept the help you can get.” 

With that, she turned back to Tack. “If you interrupt me again in the next four hours for anything short of a life or death emergency or dinner, I will sick my raven on you, do you understand me, Tack Teach?”

Tack, who with Jay’s help had finished pulling up the dingy and was watching the lecture in amusement, immediately schooled his features into a more stoic look. “Of course, Elaina,” he said, bowing low, “My apologies for having interrupted your work.”

Elaina didn’t dignify him with a response, just stomping back below deck.

Mary was fuming and turned to check in with Lizzie only to find her gone. She looked around frantically before seeing that Lizzie was talking quietly with Jay. She started to chase after her sister when Tack laid a hand on her shoulder, holding her back. “I trust them with my life,” he said quietly. “I wouldn’t have asked for their help otherwise.”

Mary clenched her jaw and didn’t take her eyes off the pair, but didn’t continue her approach. “If they do anything to hurt her,” she said, not turning to face the captain, “I will end them.”

Tack sighed. “I know,” was all he said, before squeezing her shoulder and walking back to the wheel. 

**********

“I’m sorry for scaring you,” Lizzie said. 

Jay tilted their head slowly in confusion. “What do you mean?” they asked. The short phrase sounded like it cost a great deal of effort to say, each word uttered in a quiet, halting voice, their expression barely changing.

“Earlier,” Lizzie explained, “You saw me and you looked scared.”

Jay nodded. “Not your fault. Reminded me of someone.” 

Lizzie’s heart clenched as she realized who Jay might mean. “I think it’s the hair,” she said carefully. “The red scares people sometimes.”

Jay nodded again. “Yes,” they agreed, and Lizzie felt her heart sink at the confirmation. 

“Not everyone with this…hair…is like…that,” Lizzie said, hoping she was getting her point across without outright outing herself and Mary without talking to her sister first.

Jay stared at Lizzie for a few long moments, and Lizzie held their gaze. Finally, they nodded. “I know,” they said. “Not all. Like me. Are bad,” they managed. 

Lizzie smiled. “I know,” she said. They studied each other for a long moment before Lizzie looked out at the ocean. “Do you love it too?” she asked softly, once again entranced by the water.

“Love it,” Jay confirmed with a smile that spread slowly over their features. They lumbered over to the side of the deck, gesturing for Lizzie to follow. “Anchors aweigh?” they said, like an invitation, and Lizzie grinned. 

“Just show me how.”

**********

“Elaina! Dinner!” Tack yelled. 

“Tack?”

“What’s up, kid?”

Lizzie grit her teeth, but continued, “If everyone’s down here, who’s manning the ship? Don’t you need more people?”

Tack nodded. “You really did read up, huh? Don’t worry, it’s taken care of.” He was putting out fancy-looking covered platters on the long dining table, a towel thrown over his shoulder, the well-used apron looking comically small on his large form. 

Lizzie frowned. “But I wanna know!”

Mary glanced up at Tack from where she was trying to guess what was under the coverings. “She’s not going to stop until you tell her.”

Tack sighed. “Fine. Ghosts.”

Lizzie lit up. “Ghosts?” 

Mary snorted. “And now she’s going to ask-”

“Can I punch one?” they said in unison, Mary impersonating Lizzie. Lizzie wrinkled her nose at her sister, but then looked up at Tack with pleading eyes. 

“I- I’m sorry, what?” he spluttered. 

“I can do it! I think,” Lizzie frowned in thought. “I learned the theory of it, but I’ve never actually tried it. I don’t want to hurt them though! Maybe just a light punch?”

Tack’s mouth was hanging open, trying to process the girl's request. “You’ll catch flies,” Mary said, tapping his chin without looking up, and he shut his mouth with a clack of teeth. 

“I’ll ask them?” he said, uncertain, glancing at Mary. 

Mary shrugged. “If you don’t, she’ll find a way to ask them on her own, and try it herself without telling anyone.”

Lizzie nodded in agreement. “That’s true.”

“Alright then- Ah! Nice of you to join us, Miss Fancy Pants,” Tack said, clearly relieved at the interruption as Elaina entered the dining area. 

“I don’t miss dinner,” Elaina stated. 

Lizzie saw Tack biting back a grin and narrowed her eyes. It didn’t take knowing him well to know he was up to something.

“Well, everyone’s here, so dig in!” 

They lifted the covers to reveal-

Simple, white bread sandwiches. 

Mary was the first to say something. “Well, at least it’s likely to be somewhat edible this time.” She frowned as she picked hers up. “Did you…forget to put anything _in_ the sandwiches?”

Elaina buried her face in her hands. “I leave the workshop for _two_ reasons at sea, Tack,” she began, but Tack coughed and she looked up to see the look that Lizzie had clocked earlier and halted her lecture to see how his latest prank would play out. 

“This is a special meal,” he said, reaching over to grasp the handle of one, last, covered dish. “We all know names are special,” he continued, and now it was Lizzie biting back a laugh, “And our newest arrival has been so kind as to reveal May’s full name.”

Mary’s eyes widened and she stared at Lizzy, who by some miracle managed to keep a straight face at the panic in her sister’s expression. 

“So, today’s meal is in honor of our dear friend, Mayonnaise,” he said, lifting the lid with a flourish to reveal five small jars of said condiment underneath.

Mary stared, first at the jars, then at her sister. “Lizzie,” she said after a long pause. Lizzie was making a valiant effort to hold in her laughter, and Elaina and Tack weren’t even bothering to try. 

“You know how you wanted to learn to swim?”

“Yeah?”

“How would you like to learn _right now_?” Mary growled. She shot to her feet, reaching to grab her sister from across the table, but Lizzie was already off like a rocket, with Tack whooping, cheering her on. 

Elaina, wiping away tears of laughter, grabbed one of the jars and began spreading it over the bread with her knife. “My new favorite meal,” she said, smirking as Mary buried her face in her arms on the table.


	4. Leaving Erdeloch

“This is idiotic.”

“It’ll work.”

“It won’t.”

“Who’s the longtime pirate here?”

“Sometimes I wonder.”

Jay and Lizzie watched The Trio, as they had dubbed them, arguing over…

Well. They weren’t sure exactly.

“Leaving Erdeloch?” Jay asked in their quiet, halting voice.

“I think that’s the goal, yes,” Lizzie responded, watching with amusement.

They were all gathered in the dining room, which she had learned doubled as the planning room. Lizzie had watched Mary crawl her way from the darkness their father had trapped her in, but she had always been so hesitant and careful, except with her mothers. Watching her openly arguing, losing her temper, and _bantering_ with people outside of their little family was not only heartwarming but extremely entertaining.

“Do you understand how stupid an idea this has to be for _both_ of us to be telling you how _very_ stupid it is?”

Tack crossed his arms. “I see nothing that can go wrong here.”

Mary threw up her hands. “Tack, there’s nothing _but_ ways for this ‘plan’ to go wrong.”

“I disagree.”

“Okay. Just. Just walk us through this again,” Elaina said, pinching her nose. 

“Gladly. Mary Controls Water to speed us through the inlet.”

“Yes. That is the one part that makes sense.” 

Tack glared at Elaina. “You cast Water Breathing, and we swim under the boat to pass the sentries.”

“Okay! There! First cluster of issues,” Mary interrupted. “Lizzie can’t swim.”

“Give her a rope, tie her to me.” Mary shot Tack an incredulous look. “I’m the strongest swimmer!” he snapped. 

“Lizzie, rope, and underwater is not a combination I like,” Mary retorted. 

“Let’s say Lizzie’s okay with it,” Lizzie said quietly, drawing the attention of the bickering friends. “What would come next, Tack?”

He nodded his thanks before continuing, “We swim underneath, and when we reach the guards’ checkpoint, they’ll have to check the ship from one entry point, which is the dock for them to board the ship. I create a Tidal Wave to push them back long enough for us to speed on by.”

“And why can’t we stay on the ship?” Elaina asked, now rubbing her temples.

“Because if there are people on board, they’ll do a routine check. If they see an empty ship full of necromantic magic, they’ll try to board.”

“And they’ll all congregate at the docking point, and you can push them all away,” Lizzie finished. “Sounds solid to me,” she said, glancing up at Jay. “What do you think?”

Jay replied without any hesitation. “I trust Tack.”

Lizzie cocked a brow at the women wearing similar expressions of betrayal. “What was the rule on the ship? Majority rules?” 

Mary opened her mouth to protest, but was beat to it by Tack. “You’re a child,” he said quietly. 

Lizzie bristled internally but gave him a sharp smile. “Yes, I am. But you’re not going to convince them, and they’re not going to convince you and Jay. You need a tiebreaker.” She shrugged. “Guess you have to deal with a vote from a _kid_.” She was unable to disguise the disdain in her voice at the term.

After a tense moment, Mary sighed and nodded to Jay. “You trust Tack, I trust Lizzie.” The cleric turned to Tack, sticking a finger in his face. “If she comes out of this with so much as a scratch, I will make you wish you drowned.” With that, she left the dining area. 

Elaina and Tack glanced at each other with wide eyes before turning to Lizzie. “What just happened?” Elaina asked.

Lizzie sighed. “She listens to me, I guess,” she said, before following her sister outside.

Elaina turned to Tack, who looked just as lost as she felt. “Mary _is_ the older sister, correct?”

**********

Lizzie walked up behind Mary, careful to make sure Mary heard her coming. Mary was leaning against the railing, looking to the sky. “Hi,” Lizzy said in a small voice.

Mary just reached out an arm and Lizzie quickly tucked herself under it the way she had since she was a child, running to her sister’s room when The Six argued with the councilors that said one thing and meant another, and only dealt in cruelty and greed. 

“You’re right,” Mary said. “You can take care of yourself. And if anything happens, you’ll be fine. As-” Mary cut herself off, trying to find the right word, and shaking her head, “-as _infuriating_ as Tack can be, he’ll take care of you.” 

Lizzie didn’t respond. She had never really known what to do about Mary’s view of her. She wanted to scream that she wasn’t perfect. That she didn’t know what she was doing any more than Mary did, probably far less so. But she knew Mary looked up to her for some reason, and there wasn’t much that filled Lizzie with more fear than truly disappointing Mary. 

So Lizzie just sighed and let Mary pray to the Dawnfather, face turned up to the sky, as Lizzie studied the waves cresting against the side of the ship. 

******

Things _almost_ went according to plan.

Tack tied a rope around his waist, tying the other end around Lizzie’s sash, as Elaina cast a spell to let them breathe underwater. The whole group leaped into the inlet, swimming in the clear water under the boat, Elaina keeping Mary on course as the cleric focused on pushing the boat forward, not able to use her arms effectively to move forward. 

Upon seeing the wooden posts that marked the pier where the ship would be expected to dock for inspection, Tack and Lizzie separated from the group, and Tack created a powerful tidal wave to push back the guards on the dock. 

What they didn’t plan on was the warrior with the gills. 

He zoomed towards Lizzie first, and Lizzie understood why. She was smaller, not armored, and more likely to be a caster. She had a chance to notice Tack’s panicked face before she let a grin creep across her face.

_This_ she could deal with. 

She found water far easier to move through than everyone had told her it would be, and as the warrior tried to grapple her, she felt almost as if the water were helping her slip free, whirling in place and landing a hard blow to his sternum, extracting a bit of information about his weaknesses through his Ki as she’d been taught.

_Vulnerable to fire._

Well, that wasn’t helpful. But she _had_ managed to stun him, and she took advantage of his dazed state to land two more blows in rapid succession, striking his gills, hoping to incapacitate him.

Instead, his pupil-less white eyes went wide as he thrashed, grasping his neck. 

Was he…drowning?

He was.

Lizzie tried to grab him, to help him to the surface, but he shoved her away. By this point, Tack had reached her and was pulling her back towards the ship. She fought, trying to reach the warrior with gills, but was helpless to fight Tack’s firm grip as he pulled them away, watching the man fall limp, his wide-eyed corpse sinking slowly to the fathoms below.

The Fathoms.

_No._

**Y E S**

  
  


**********

It was based on pure instinct that Tack broke the surface gasping for air. Lizzie took no such desperate breath and had gone limp in his arms as he neared the surface. He could feel her breathing, but that didn’t set his mind at ease; he thought might know what he had just witnessed, and if he was right?

Lizzie was not okay. 

He grabbed the rope Elaina dropped for him to climb, holding Lizzie with one arm, and climbing using his other hand and his legs. Jay was ready for him at the top, pulling Lizzie up first, then hauling Tack up. Tack’s gaze never left Lizzie as she landed on the deck, on hands and knees, taking deep breaths. 

Mary, sopping wet, arms outstretched as she continued to Control Water to ensure their escape, called back to her sister. “Are you alright?”

Tack watched as Lizzie took another deep, shuddering breath, before calling back in a cheery voice. “I’m fine!”

Tack saw Lizzie’s head drop and knew that in that moment, no one else would see the tears mingling with the salty seawater.

His eyes hardened, and he knelt next to the shivering girl, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. She didn’t flinch away, but he felt her tense. “We’ll talk later,” he said in a quiet voice. She didn’t look up but nodded.


	5. Welcome Aboard

“Do you think Lizzie is acting weird?” Mary asked, frowning at where Lizzie sat at the bow of the ship, reading her book. 

Tack shrugged. “You would know better than me,” he said, keeping his hands steady at the helm. “But she’s fifteen. I don’t know what you were like at that age, but I know I could be a moody kid.” He absolutely noticed her stiffen and her gaze darken at the reference to her past, but didn’t comment on it. 

One crisis at a time.

“What’s with the book?” he asked to break the silence. 

“Our brother gave it to her,” Mary responded. “It’s Lizzie’s favorite.” 

Tack’s eyebrows rose. “First a secret sister, and now you have a brother too?” he asked. 

Mary smiled, but her brow was still furrowed, not looking away from Lizzie. “Yeah,” she said. 

“Older or younger? Ooh, are you a twin?” he teased, and she elbowed him, her dark mood successfully dispelled. 

“Depends on the day. It’s complicated,” Mary added, laughing at his confusion. 

“You know,” he said carefully, “Sometimes it’s hard to tell who the older sister is between the two of you.” 

Mary gave him a confused look and he shrugged. “It just seems like you put a lot of stock in the opinion of a kid.” He braced himself to be yelled at, but Mary just sighed.

“It’s complicated,” she repeated.

“Doesn’t seem that complicated to me,” he responded. “And before you say I don’t know what I’m talking about,” he said, not letting her interrupt, “I do know something about having to grow up fast.”

They both knew Mary couldn’t argue with that. “Just,” he said, trying to choose his words with care. “Remember, as much as you seem to look up to her, she looks up to you too. Anyone can see that.” 

Mary was still, except for her hands which fiddled with her holy symbol. “Yeah,” was all she said, and they relaxed into a comfortable silence. 

Jay had walked up to Lizzie while Mary and Tack were talking, and the two newfound friends spoke in hushed tones. “How did you end up with a friend like Jay?” Mary asked.

Tack ignored the pointed tone. “I don’t know, but I feel very lucky,” he said firmly. When Mary gave him A Look, he gestured to the deck. “You’ve seen the ship,” he said. “Is my best friend being undead that much of a stretch?” 

When they had first met, Mary had an incredibly difficult time coming to terms with the ghosts that resided on The Revenge. Elaina, too, had felt uneasy on the haunted vessel. Eventually, both seemed to understand this was just the way the ship was, and that whatever control Tack had over the phantom occupants seemed dependable.

Dependable. Steady. That was who he was. The anchor of the ship. It didn’t matter that the anchor sank to the seafloor. It was his job to keep the ship steady between ports. 

He looked straight ahead, focusing on a spot on the horizon, taking even breaths. Then he squinted. That spot seemed to be getting closer.

It was getting bigger and it was getting closer, fast. “Mary. Look,” he said, and his sharp tone caught her attention. She spotted the figure hurtling toward them and sped down the steps to the main deck, screaming, “LIZZIE!”

Lizzie looked up in time for a giant purple and black eagle to grab her in its talons. She flailed, trying to find a weak point to get it to release her. “Put me down!” she yelled. 

Mary flung out a hand, grabbing her holy symbol, and as she began the almost instinctual motion to release a bolt of holy fire, she felt a gentle nudge in her mind. _Something else_ , and she felt the voice more than heard it, feeling the gentle warmth spread across her chest, and nearly dropped her holy symbol. Shaken, but not about to argue, she instead willed the beast to go blind so she could free her sister.

The effect was immediate. The eagle screeched, thrashing its head back and forth, before dropping Lizzie to the deck. Luckily, it hadn’t flown too far above the deck, and Lizzie was able to mostly control her fall, tucking into a roll, and wincing, grabbing her right side. 

The giant eagle slammed into the deck of the ship, and Tack and Mary watched in horror as Lizzie stood too close to get away safely, just barely able to dodge its flailing wings and claws. 

Then the bird’s form began to shift, lying down and still about as tall as Lizzie, it’s feathers not disappearing, but covering a more compact, four-legged beast. Its feathers ranged from a deep blue to a beautiful purple. The pointed eagle face broadened and took a rounder form, more akin to an owl. Its legs, four instead of two, more like paws than talons scratched at its eyes. It let out an anguished howl. Lizzie stood frozen, uncertain as to what to do.

“An owlbear?” Mary whispered.

Tack reached for his sword. “A baby one, yes. Ideas?” he whispered back. 

Before they could continue, they watched as Jay approached the creature slowly from behind. 

“What are they doing?” Mary hissed. “They’re going to scare it!”

“No,” Tack said, setting a calming hand on Mary’s shoulder. “They’re being careful. Look.”

And sure enough, Jay was making sure each step was audible and methodical. The owlbear paused in its thrashing upon hearing their footsteps, trying to orient itself. 

“It’s okay,” Jay said, their voice even quieter than normal. “Not gonna hurt you.”

To everyone’s surprise, the owlbear allowed Jay to approach and lay a gentle hand on its head. They stayed that way for a moment as Jay tilted their head. “Can’t see?” they asked. 

The owlbear pawed at its eyes, with a mournful coo. “Mary can help,” Jay said, just loud enough for Mary to hear, turning their head to look at Mary. Their expression remained neutral, but with their head tilted, Mary could understand the request. She glanced at Lizzie, and Jay nodded. “Can Lizzie move?” they asked, gently stroking the creature’s feathers.

The owlbear simply curled in more on itself, and Jay slowly gestured with their head at Lizzie in Mary’s direction. Lizzie smiled her thanks, and quietly, steadily, backed away just as she had seen Jay do to approach. When Lizzie was safe in her sister’s arms, Mary muttered a word and the spell faded. The owlbear took a moment to orient itself, before closing its eyes and slowly transforming once more.

This time, the form it took was distinctly elven. Slender and short, with pointy ears, pale skin, and piercing gray eyes, lighter than Jay’s. She wore a sleeveless purple top that exposed her midriff, and a dark blue cloak over form-fitting black pants. Her black hair was shaved on the left side and parted to the right. She had golden tattoos in jagged lines connected by seemingly random dots of varying sizes, the marks visible across her cheeks and along her neck that appeared to trail beneath a heavy dark blue winter’s cloak hiding her shoulders. Bright beads looked somewhat familiar to Jay, surrounding a light blue crystal on a leather cord necklace hanging over her cloak.

The woman looked familiar, and Jay couldn’t place why. They squinted. She was…young? It was hard to tell with Elves.

She looked a little scared. Like she was still seeing shadows. Jay could understand that.

The two studied each other in a strange stalemate as the woman collected herself until at last, she broke the silence.

“I’m looking for my niece. Is V-”

She was cut off by a bedraggled Elaina stomping up onto the deck. “Is it lunch yet?” she grumbled, pulling her goggles to the top of her head. She froze as the woman turned around to stare at her. 

“What are you doing here?” Elaina stammered. Tack and Mary immediately went back on guard, with Tack pulling Lizzie behind him, the other hand resting on his sword. If Elaina was scared, they all needed to be ready.

The woman slowly approached Elaina, not unlike Jay had approached her owlbear form earlier. Tack and Mary remained watchful but saw that Elaina didn’t seem to be backing away. In one sudden movement, the woman hugged Elaina close. 

_“Name?”_ she breathed the question in the half-elf’s ear in Draconic.

_“Grandma’s,”_ Elaina replied in the same language. 

The elven woman pulled back, holding Elaina’s face in her hands.

“I’ve missed you, Elaina,” she said with a grin. 

Elaina gave a tearful laugh. “It’s good to see you too, Velora.”

**********

“I’m sorry for attacking,” Velora said sheepishly. “Last I’d found of Elaina’s trail, she’d been kidnapped, so I thought I was in for a rescue mission.”

Tack’s eyebrows rose. “Kidnapped?”

Elaina gave him a warning look. “Long story,” she said, glancing at Lizzie. He nodded. “I’m fine, Velora, so you can tell mom-”

Velora snorted. “You think I’m here because of my _sister_?” she laughed, and they all heard the bitter tone. “No. Wanna take another guess?” 

Elaina went pale. “Shit,” she muttered. “Let me guess. She’s ‘not mad. Just disappointed.’”

Velora grinned at Elaina’s panic. “Not that she’d ever actually say it, but absolutely.” 

“Who is this?” Lizzie piped up. 

Elaina rubbed her temples, which Lizzie was learning meant the artificer was on the verge of a headache. “My aunt,” she said miserably. “Not technically related, but we might as well be. More of an aunt than this one,” she said and Velora laughed. 

“It’s not my fault!” she exclaimed, before turning to the rest. “Elf years are weird,” she said by way of explanation. “I’m like ten years older-”

“Eight.”

“-which rounding up is ten-”

“Not how that works.”

“Anyway, we’re similar ages, but-”

“It’s complicated,” Tack interrupted and Mary kicked his shin. He didn’t even have the decency to pretend to have suffered an injury. “Yeah, we see that a lot here on _The Revenge_.” 

Velora’s brow furrowed. “Yeah, I saw that on the hull. What’s with the name? Who’s Anne?”

Mary felt Lizzie stiffen next to her, and wrapped an arm around her, squeezing her shoulder. Lizzie relaxed a little but looked intently up at Tack.

“A bit of a hero of mine,” he said. “But the name came with the ship. Mostly.”

“Mostly?” Lizzie asked.

Tack looked down at her with a grim smile. “She came to me, _The Queen Anne_. Things happened. I took a new name, and I updated hers.” He knelt so he was eye level with her, dark eyes serious, devoid of their usual mischief.

“My name is Edward Teach. Welcome to _The Queen Anne’s Revenge,_ Lizzie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, I know that Blackbeard wasn't actually around during Anne or Elizabeth's time, but to be honest, the "pirates" of the Elizabethan era were actually privateers and they were absolute TRASH. Blackbeard is not only my favorite male pirate, but also had these little tie ins I could use, like his flagship being named The Queen Anne's Revenge. There are other little bendings of history I've used for the story that will come up later, but I did want to explain my choices here.


	6. How I Know You

“Excuse me,” Lizzie said, pulling herself away from Mary and getting up to walk away. She paused, turning back to the group at the door. “It was nice to meet you, Velora,” she said quickly, before exiting the dining area. 

Mary turned to Tack. “Really? _That’s_ how you decided to tell her?”

He sighed. “I’ll talk to her.”

“Do you really think that’s a good idea right now?”

“Yes. I do,” he said simply. He turned to their new passenger with a grin. “Velora, you are welcome to stay as long as you like, but please do refrain from attempting to kidnap anymore children. We only have the one,” he said, before his face turned comically solemn. “However, if you’d like to carry away Mary or Elaina, or preferably both, you’d save me the trouble of throwing them to the sharks.” He laughed at their squawks of protest. “Keep ‘em in line, Jay!” he called over his shoulder and received a grunt of assent in return.

Once Tack was out of sight, he let his smile fade and shoulders slump, pulling off his hat to run his fingers through his thick hair, tangling them in the strands and tugging at them in frustration. 

This wasn’t how he’d wanted this conversation to go at _all_ , but he supposed things could be worse.

After checking the bow of the ship, he found Lizzie in the cabin she shared with Mary. He knocked lightly. “Can I come in?” 

There was silence, then a sharp “Yes, you may.” 

Ah. So that was her play. He entered and found her sitting cross-legged on the floor, back to the wall, hands resting on her knees. She glared up at him.

“Highness,” he said as a greeting, removing his hat. “May I sit?” he asked, gesturing at the space across from her, but not between her and the exit. She nodded, and he plunked himself down.

They stared at each other. Well, Lizzie glared at him, and he watched her calmly. “Go ahead,” he said at last, seeing she wasn’t going to be the one to break the silence.

“You knew who I was from when we met.”

“Yes.”

“And you still chose to treat me like a child?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

He sighed. “Because you _are_ a child.”

“I am the Empress.”

He nodded. “And I suppose that means you’ve had to grow up quick?” Lizzie’s eyes narrowed and she gave no response. He continued examining his hat, giving her every opportunity to read him, smiling at her scrutiny. 

“You get that from your mother.”

Lizzie stiffened. She couldn’t help it, not when her mother was involved. “What do you know of my mother?” she asked through gritted teeth.

He held his tricorn hat still, remembering.

“Your mother was born in Wildemount, but she spent a long time in Tal’Dorei. To the Council, she was the diplomat, Anne Boleyn, student to Seeker Assum. But to us, in cities like Stilben, where crime ruled with a tight gloved fist and freedom was a farce,” he flipped the hat so Lizzie could see the inside, “She was Nan.” 

On the inside of his hat was the raised form of a raven, barely visible at this distance, stitched in black thread on the dark interior. Lizzie glanced up at him, less distrustful and more curious, and he handed her the hat. She ran her hand across the stitching in wonder.

“She started as a shadow,” he murmured, smiling at the girl’s awe, “A vigilante of sorts. But then she started picking tougher prey than just common gang leaders and thugs. She uncovered corruption within the cities and their leadership, all while keeping her persona as an arrogant politician carefully intact.” He grinned. “But us in the streets, living in the careful line between what was law and what was right, we knew. We all knew about Nan.” 

“I ran away from home when I was five. Grew up sailing, lived at sea. I swore an oath as a Paladin of the Open Ocean. And when I was twelve,” he said gesturing towards the hat, “Your mother was looking for pirates to intercept the Empire’s ships.” He grinned. “I signed right up.”

“Did you ever meet her?” Lizzie asked, hugging the hat to her chest, almost as if she didn’t realize she was doing it, now fully engrossed in his tale.

“Yes, I did.” His grin widened. “We ferried her to Wildemount once. We were nearly intercepted and she organized this elaborate plot to have herself traded to the Empire’s ship to save the crew’s lives.”

He raised a dramatic hand to his forehead, his voice rising in a high falsetto. “‘I’m a _victim_ of these _boorish_ and _fearsome_ pirates of _The Queen Anne_! They’ll only let me go in exchange for their freedom, the bastards,’” he said in a snooty elvish accent, and Lizzie giggled. He was holding back his own laughter as he thought back to the event. “She found a barrel of fireworks on the other ship, and set them off, swinging back over to our ship in the chaos, and we took off, getting her safely to Nicodranas in one piece, each of us with more new stories to tell from that trip than every other voyage I’d been on before combined.” 

Lizzie was grinning now too. “That does sound like her,” she said, before her smile faded, her expression becoming distant. 

“I know you’ve been told you have her eyes,” he said quietly, and she nodded. “But you also have that same chaotic spirit she does.” Her head snapped up. No one had ever told her that. “It’s true,” he said. “Think of who you’ve been on this ship when you weren’t worried about what Mary thought. That joy and laughter?” he shook his head. “That wasn’t here before.”

Lizzie gaped at him, struggling for words. It was an alien feeling for her, Tack could see.

“Elizabeth Boleyn,” he said, taking his hat from her hands. “Empress,” he placed the hat over his heart and giving the best bow he could while sitting cross-legged, “Sister,” he jerked his head in the direction of the dining area with an exaggerated roll of his eyes and Lizzie giggled “Daughter,” he flipped the hat around so she could see the raven. “But most of all,” he said, gently placing the hat on her head. “You’re a person. When I call you ‘kid,’ it’s not meant to degrade you.” He adjusted the hat as she stared up at him. 

“It’s me giving you permission to _be_ a kid. You can be the Empress later. At sea, on this ship, I’m the captain. You don’t have to lead.” Satisfied with the way he had balanced it on her head, he gave her a lopsided grin. “So, go nuts. Just don’t blow up my ship. That’s all I ask.”

Lizzie felt herself start to tear up. “You saw,” she said quietly. “You saw what I did when we left Erdeloch.”

Tack nodded. “I did.” 

“I’m not a kid anymore. I’ve done worse, I’ve ordered worse done. I just never…not in person.” Her voice shook. “And I’m not…I’m not this perfect person Mary thinks I am.” 

Tack sighed. “I know. And Mary…” he trailed off. “Well, it seems to me she had to grow up too fast too.” He shrugged. “I can just say I’m doing my best to help. She and Elaina are smarter than I’ll ever be, but when those two get so they can’t stand each other,” he put his hand over his heart, throwing his head back with a gasp, “ _I_ get to be the pretty boy with the rocks for brains they talk at until they figure themselves out.”

Lizzie shook her head. “I think you’re more than that to them.”

Tack laughed. “I am what I am, no more, and no less.”

“That is a very redundant thing to say.”

“And yet, a helpful reminder.” His voice turns serious. “No one’s perfect, kid. And yes, killing is not great. Contrary to popular belief, I actually avoid it when possible.” He shrugs. “But in the end, if it’s you or them, you do what you have to do. But I’ll try to keep you from having to make that call from now on. At least as long as you’re on _The Revenge_.”

Lizzie got a far off look in her eye for a moment. “Thank you.” She hesitated before continuing. “Tack?” 

“Yes?”

“Do you ever wish you were smaller?”

Tack’s brow furrowed for a moment, before it clicked what the girl meant. “Yeah,” he said, “Yeah I do.” He tapped the top of the hat, causing it to slide down over Lizzie’s face. “So whattaya say, Lizzie? Wanna get to be a kid for a little while?” 

“I wouldn’t even know how to begin,” Lizzie admitted, peeking at him from under the hat.

Tack grinned, the mischief back in his eyes. “Do you like music?” Lizzie tilted her head, curious, and nodded. “And I know you like scandalizing your sister.” Lizzie’s eyes went wide.

There.

That light, that spark of chaos, that yearning for freedom.

_That_ was what he swore his oath to as a paladin.

“Allow me to introduce you, Lizzie Boleyn, to the art of the sea shanty...”

  
  


**********

Mary woke the day after the incident between Lizzie and Tack well-rested. Lizzie had come back to the room late, looking pensive, and holding Tack’s hat. Assuring her Mary she was alright, she had gone straight to bed, never letting go of the tricorn hat. To Mary’s delight, Lizzie had a night of restful sleep for the first time since they had begun traveling together.

She stretched and got dressed, knowing she’d find Lizzie on the deck, doing her morning stretches.

What she was _not_ expecting to hear a three-part sea shanty being belted from the deck of the ship, Jay’s normally halting voice keeping near even time with Lizzie’s soprano and Tack’s booming baritone, the scruffy paladin leading, stomping his boot in a steady rhythm as he sang the call, and the other two joining in for the response.

_Oh, Sally Brown, she's a nice young lady,_

_Way, hay, roll and go._

_And we rolled all night,_

_And we rolled all day,_

_Spend our money on Sally Brown._

Oh dear _gods_. 

She was going to kill Tack.

But when she looked up at Lizzie dangling from the mizzenmast, a familiar tricorn hat perched atop her head, one hand clinging to a taut rope, the other holding the too-big hat in place, her red hair billowing in the wind, and a wide grin stretched across her face as she sang out to the sky…

Mary found she really couldn’t be that angry. And when Tack winked at her, she knew it was a reassurance, not a mockery. So she just smiled and listened.

  
  


_Oh, ‘Laina Dear, she's a quarter elf-o._

_Way, hay, roll and go._

_Well, she drinks dark rum,_

_And she chews tobacco._

_Way, hay, roll and go._

_And we rolled all night,_

_And we rolled all day,_

_Spend our money on ‘Laina Dear._

  
  


She smirked, shaking her head with a small laugh. If the stomping of boots from Elaina’s workshop were any indication, Mary didn’t need to worry about killing the pirate. Tack wasn’t going to be alive much longer anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sally Brown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmZVQmxrwx0
> 
> Sea Shanties are the best music and you cannot convince me otherwise.


	7. Small in the Storm

# Chapter 7: Small in the Storm

Mary sat in the corner of Elaina’s workshop, fiddling with her holy symbol, running her fingers over the crack that had appeared just before Lizzie rescued her so long ago. _Was it you?_ she thought, trying to direct the idea at the symbol of Pelor. She received no response.

She had been puzzling over the strange voice that kept her from hurting Velora the day before, lounging on the deck for the morning, before coming down to the workshop to find some quiet. The lanterns were dimmed to give just enough of a glow for Elaina’s darkvision to allow her to see clearly. At the sound of her approach, Elaina had reached up to whip her glasses off, the glasses she didn’t like people to know she wore. She relaxed upon seeing Mary, and nodded to the cushion in the corner that Mary frequented, putting her glasses back on, and picking up her tools to tinker with her steel raven defender.

Ravens. She couldn’t escape the ravens, it seemed, no matter where she went. Not that she really wanted to.

The raven defender was larger than any living one Mary had seen (though she knew now that most of the ravens she actually had seen up close were most likely Edward, so who knew really). In battle, Elaina and her construct were a sight to behold, a dance of blades and steel wings, moving as one unit in near silence, the only sounds from where they fought the clashing of opponent’s weapons meeting their steel, and cries of pain as Elaina ruthlessly cut down her enemies…as non-fatally as possible, at Tack’s insistence.

Now, she was hunched over the construct, head tilted at an odd angle as she fiddled with a gear. “What is it,” she asked, not looking up from her work. 

Mary gave a start. She hadn’t realized she was staring. She thought about bringing up the voice, but decided against it. Elaina would dismiss it as her imagining things at best or as ‘the gods meddling’ at worst, and Mary didn’t have the energy for either of those conversations right then.

“When I blinded Velora,” Mary began, and Elaina did look up at her then. “She seemed…I mean, she almost seemed like she was in _pain_. That spell isn’t supposed to hurt.”

Elaina’s brow furrowed as she opened her mouth to respond, before pausing, as if considering her words.

Well, that was new. 

Elaina was many things, but mindful of her words was not one of them. She tended to say exactly what she meant when she meant it, generally without any regard for anyone’s feelings. Mary for so long had needed to be so careful with what she said, and had always seen at least _that_ courtesy afforded to her in return, and found herself constantly taken aback at the woman’s bluntness. 

Despite her straightforward nature, it was often hard for Mary to quite puzzle out what Elaina meant. She said things, stated them as facts, even if she was asking a question, but they were always said as if she expected Mary to understand why she was saying them. Mary had, at least, learned to differentiate actual questions from statements of what the artificer had concluded to be truths.

Well, most of the time. Tack was better at it.

But Elaina was clearly putting a lot of thought into this answer. Mary waited patiently for her response.

“Velora experienced…something,” Elaina said, her tone unusually gentle. She almost seemed sad, her normally hard expression softening at a memory. “Something very difficult. And it left her scared of the dark.”

Mary’s eyes widened. “Oh, gods, and I _blinded_ her,” she realized. “No wonder she was…” Mary trailed off and buried her head in her hands. _Would she ever stop making these stupid mistakes?_

She heard the scraping of her friend’s work stool and gave a start when she felt Elaina’s hands wrap gently around her wrists, tugging them down away from her face, to reveal that the half-elf had silently made her way across the small room to sit across from Mary. 

Blue eyes stared into Mary’s tear-filled ones as the cleric tried not to cry. “You didn’t know.”

It felt like an offering of forgiveness, and Mary shook her head. “It would be scary for anyone to suddenly be blinded,” she responded. “But especially an elf, who can see in the dark.”

Elaina nodded. “True. But so would being set on fire, which I’m sure was the alternative.” Mary stiffened despite herself, and Elaina just slid her calloused hands up to hold hers, her main way of offering physical comfort. “Velora was shaken, but she’s fine.” She studied Mary, scanning her, trying to read the cleric’s body language. “You…feel bad.”

Mary knew this was a question. “Yes, I do.”

“You…need to make it up to her.”

Mary _hoped_ this was a question. “I would love to, yes. But I would have no idea how.”

Elaina thought for a moment, and Mary could feel her fingers tensing and relaxing, almost in a tapping motion but never losing contact with the cleric’s skin, the pressure changing in quick movements. It reminded Mary of watching Kat playing quick jigs on her guitar or lyre. This was what Elaina did when she was ‘tinkering’, as Tack had dubbed the thought process, almost like the motions were helping her sift through and fiddle with her whirlwind of ideas, and Mary just watched the half-elf’s furrowed brow with a small smile. The whole process had become strangely endearing in the past two years. 

“She and I agree on many things regarding the gods,” Elaina said, lifting a brow as Mary stiffened again. “Let me finish. We agree on that, but we find comfort in different things. Hers, I think you will understand better than mine.” She pointed to Mary’s holy symbol, resting on the ground between them. “You worship the sun.”

“That’s simplifying it quite a bit,” Mary sighed at the old argument, “But in a way, yes.”

“The sun is a star. It’s big because It’s closer to us than the others. Velora loves stars. They bring her comfort. I’m sure you can find some deep reason as to why,” Elaina shrugged. “Maybe that information can assist you.”

Mary stared at her then grinned. “Can you help me with a project?”

Elaina eyed her warily. “Does it involve religion?”

“It involves my Light spell, and my magic comes from my faith, so in a way, yes.”

“But that’s it?”

“Yes.”

“Then gladly.”

Mary squeezed Elaina’s hands, then climbed to her feet, tugging Elaina up. 

“Okay, so I want to take one of those stones you keep around…”

  
  


**********

It was evening, and Jay and Velora were preparing dinner in the galley, listening as Mary and Elaina discussed a battle tactic. Velora offered Jay a taste of the stew she was preparing, and they shook their head. “Come on, it’s good!” Velora said with a teasing grin.

“Not hungry.”

Velora frowned. “You missed breakfast.”

“Busy.”

The elf raised an eyebrow. “And lunch.” Jay shrugged. “Do you not need to eat?” Jay shrugged again. “Hmm. I don’t like that answer.” Jay didn’t respond, and Velora sighed. “Just try to eat some dinner, okay?” Jay hummed in agreement, and Velora decided right then she was going to figure out what this strange half-orc could eat. She could make food out of thin air, she would figure something out. She’d dealt with picky eaters before.

She gave the pot one last stir, before lifting it onto the counter. “The stew should be cool enough to eat soon,” she called, grabbing a towel and wiping her hands, walking out of the galley into the dining area. “Are Lizzie and Tack down yet?”

“I’m here,” came a quiet voice from the back corner of the room, and Velora gave a start. She hadn’t even realized Lizzie was below deck. The redhead was reading a book, knees tucked close to her chest, the book lying on the floor in front of her. She didn’t look up at Velora to answer. 

“She doesn’t like storms,” Mary said quietly, and Velora nodded in understanding. The ship had been rocking far more than when she first boarded, the sea churning in heaving movements for the past few hours, and she, too, had stayed below deck. She didn’t tend to like cloudy days or nights, though she found her reasons tended to be different than most. She could see why a storm would be scary, though.

They heard the stomping of heavy boots thudding quickly down the steps, before the door flew open, revealing a soaking wet Tack, who scanned the room, spotting Lizzie hidden in the corner. 

“Hey, kid!” he said, and she uncurled her legs and closed her book to shoot him a look of confusion. “You said you want to feel small?” 

Velora saw Mary’s head whip around to stare at her sister, but everyone else’s attention was focused on Tack. His eyes were wild, and he had a grin stretching across his face that was near manic in its energy. 

“Yes?” 

“Then come on up,” he said, holding out a hand to her. 

“You don’t have to-'' Mary started, but the words died on her tongue when Lizzie stood and took the pirate’s offered hand. “Tack?” she said uncertainly. 

“Trust me,” he said quickly, before pulling Lizzie above deck, not even bothering to close the door behind him. 

Mary stared at where they’d left, opening and closing her fists. Elaina reached forward, taking Mary’s hand, and whispered something in her ear. Whatever she said caused the human to relax a little.

_Hmm. Interesting._

Velora walked up behind the two. “Didn’t you say she was scared of storms?” she asked.

Mary shrugged helplessly. “She used to be,” she replied, sounding lost.

“Strange. Well, who knows how long they’ll be up there.” She watched the cleric fidget. _She needs a distraction._ “I don’t suppose you play dragonchess?”

Mary’s demeanor instantly shifted, and she eyed Velora, measuring her up. “I do,” she said. “And I rarely lose.”

Elaina pulled her hand back to cross her arms. “Because you cheat.”

Mary smirked. “I don’t cheat. You just don’t know how to play.”

“I do not know what this ‘See-More Chess,’ is you talk about, and I’m certain it’s just you cheating.”

Mary shrugged. “Think what you want,” she said.

Velora grinned. “I am VERY curious about this new game.” 

Mary grinned back. “It's mostly the same game. You learn the rules as you go.” She gestured to the back corner of the dining area. “There’s a board back there. Tack doesn’t play, and Elaina is a bad sport, so we moved it out of the way.”

“Because you cheat.”

“Bad sport.”

“Let’s play,” Velora said, cutting the two off with a laugh, and Jay was already lumbering over, picking the game table up out of the corner. Velora helped them set up chairs, and the four settled to keep themselves busy.

**********

“What are we doing?” Lizzie yelled. She shivered as the water pelted her face, the wind roaring around them. The storm was worse than she’d thought, the water churning around her, causing the ship to rock wildly. It was only thanks to her years of training that she was able to keep her footing.

“You wanted to feel small?” Tack yelled back. “Look around!” He whirled around, spraying water droplets from his shaggy hair as he did, gesturing to the ship, the swirling sea, to the darkened sky, laughing madly as he spun. “Do you feel that?” he asked, planting himself with a heavy thud of his boots and swaying with the ship. “This is as small as it gets!”

His dark eyes, wide and wild, were trained on her, inviting her to join in his fun. “Lizzie, the sea doesn’t care that you’re the Empress! The storm doesn’t care that you’re a kid! To those forces of nature, to the full _power_ of the gods themselves, we are _all_ small.” He punctuated each passion-laced word by flinging his arms as if to remind her where the storm and the sea were, yelling to the sky as much as to her. “And that power? That beauty? We get to witness and be part of _every bit of it.”_

And he was _right._ The storm didn’t care, the sea didn’t care, and Tack didn’t care, and Lizzie felt that same lightness that she felt from singing the shanties a hundredfold. She threw her head back, matching his mad laughter. 

“Yell! _Scream!_ ” he cried, before letting out a loud roar that didn’t seem possible despite his massive size. It was akin to that of a bear, fierce and filled with a mixture of pain and the relief of releasing that pain to the chaos swirling around him. 

_Gods,_ she wanted that relief. So she let out her own roar, and though the sound didn’t carry like Tack’s, it felt just as loud and mighty as she released everything she had been holding down and pushing away. She felt the storm battering her, but she no longer shrank away from the wind and spray of saltwater. She no longer felt so cold and alone. It _was_ like being a part of something.

She was at the mercy of the storm, but somehow, Lizzie had never felt more free. 

She let loose another roar and felt it rumble in her chest before releasing it to join the chorus of the howling wind, her pain swept up in the storm, the rain hiding her tears of relief. Tack roared with her and the quintet of the two joined by the crashing of the waves, the rumble and sharp cracks of thunder, and the creaking of the ship’s wooden boards created a cacophony of chaos that they drew out until the storm began to subside. 

Lizzie felt the adrenaline fade as her legs began to wobble. She fell to her knees as the rainfall lightened, and Tack walked over, kneeling next to her.

She looked up at him, tears in her eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered, throwing her arms around his neck, hugging him. 

He raised a gentle hand to her back and held her close. “Of course,” he murmured. “Do you want to go to your sister?” She nodded and winced when she tried to stand, sore from the hours of tensing her body and screaming. “Shh,” he said, gently scooping her up. “I gotcha.” She didn’t try to protest and fell asleep instantly as he cradled her to his chest, taking her down to Mary’s cabin.

The cleric opened the door and immediately grabbed her holy symbol at the sight of Lizzie’s limp form. “Is she okay?” she demanded.

Tack shushed her. “She’s sleeping,” he whispered. 

Mary ran a gentle hand across her sister’s cheek. “She looks so peaceful,” Mary murmured, surprised.

“She bears a heavy burden,” he said softly. “But you know all about that, don’t you Lady Mary?”

Mary’s eyes flew up to meet his, but she found no judgment there. “You knew,” she whispered in shock. “About me.”

He nodded. “As soon as I met Lizzie.”

“That far back?”

“You confirmed her identity for me the night we spent in town leaving Rexxentrum, but I knew when I met her. She looks like her mother,” he said with a fond smile, brushing a strand of hair away from Lizzie’s face, “And I had heard about her half-sister, Mary Dwendal. It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together.”

Mary stood back, letting him into the room, where he set Lizzie on the bed. “Normally, I’d tell you to just stick her on the floor, since that’s where she always ends up. She doesn’t like beds,” she said, not fully focused on what she was saying, still reeling at this revelation. _He knew. He knew who she was, what she’d done-_ “But it looks like she might actually sleep through the night.”

He pulled the covers over the girl, and turned to Mary, the soft glow of the firelight from the sconces softening his normally rugged features. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said softly, and Mary’s heart nearly stopped.

It wasn’t _‘What you did is unforgivable_.’ It wasn’t ‘ _You’re forgiven.’_

She knew now the first was untrue, and the second was unachievable. 

But that simple statement. _I’m glad you’re here._

It was more than she ever thought she would find.

She hugged him, and he squeezed her back as tight as he dared. “Thank you, Tack,” she said hoarsely, biting back tears.

She felt him nod against the top of her head but didn’t see the gentle, sad smile, hidden from her view as she buried her face in his chest. “Of course.”

**********

Tack stood at the wheel, the aftermath of the storm whipping against his face in the darkness. He felt the unnatural chill that announced the arrival of one of the ghosts that helped on the ship. He shut his eyes, gripping the wheel. “I don’t suppose I get one night?” he whispered. The chill didn’t subside, and he nodded, resigned. “I didn’t think so.” 

He let go of the wheel, and it didn’t move as the ghost presumably took hold of it. He dragged his feet walking down to his cabin, pausing at the door to lean his forehead against the cool wood. _Kord, please give me strength._ His nightly prayer. 

He entered, shutting the door behind him. His quarters were the largest individual living space on the ship, but he kept the room sparse. There was a small desk fixed into the corner attached to the wall, and a stool for him to sit at it. A small chest held his few possessions, and he opened it to pull his symbol of The Stormlord from his pocket, placing it next to a pen and ink set, a few vials of holy water, sticks of incense, and a small raven figurine lying over a stack of paper. He closed the lid and pulled off his coat, hanging it on a peg by the door. The other peg where he had once hung his hat remained empty, as it had since he had given the hat to Lizzie. 

He touched the empty peg, closing his eyes. “I did the right thing,” he whispered as if trying to convince someone else. “I…I did _something_ right, for once. _Please,_ I did something right, didn’t I?” He was almost begging, pleading with the empty air. He received no response and slid to the floor with a silent sob, not even making it to the small sleeping palette on the floor on the other side of the quarters.

It began as it always did, with the first howl of pain slicing through his ears and his mind, the only one he actually remembered, burned into his memory after all these years. Then the screams multiplied as chill after chill passed through his body, his hands grabbing his hair, still slick from screaming into the storm, and he curled up, trying to make his large frame as small as possible as if it would help him hide from the vengeful ghosts. 

He passed out in the unwavering cold, leaning against the wall with the phantasmal wailing lulling him into the embrace of darkness, haunted and alone.


	8. Stars and Sea Dogs

“She’s been up there an awful long time,” Tack said, squinting up at the crow’s nest where he could see Velora leaning against its side, face turned up to stare at the sky.

“She gets like that,” Elaina responded from where she stood to his left, concentrating on two pieces of metal in her hand. Tack had been surprised when she’d joined him at the wheel. Normally, when mealtimes were through, she would go back to her makeshift workshop to tinker or design. It was usually him or Mary who would go down to keep her company. For her to come out of her own volition was...well, it was strange, but nice.

“Gets like what?” he asked. “Moody?” He knew immediately he had said the wrong thing when Elaina’s attention snapped to him in a piercing glare.

“She’s not moody,” she said, voice cold. “Sometimes people just need to be alone for a while.” 

Tack nodded. “That’s true. I apologize.” Elaina studied him for a moment, before looking back down at the scraps in her hand. “I’ll ask Jay to check on her later, if you think that would be alright. They seem to get along well.” He didn’t add that he knew Elaina tended to prefer to keep to herself as well, but he saw her cold expression fade to nod her gratitude. 

“They do. Thank you.”

“So, what are you trying to do there?” he asked, gesturing at the metal in her hands. 

Elaina sighed. “I’m trying to learn the Mending cantrip,” she muttered. “Mary makes it look so easy.” She gestured at his coat and the lines of stitches across it, torn apart and put back together time after time by their friend.

“Maybe you could ask her?” he suggested. 

Elaina snorted. “And get a lecture about the Dawnfather? No, thank you.” 

Tack shook his head. “I don’t think she wants that fight any more than you do. But she might have some insight as to how you could look at it a different way.” Elaina didn’t respond, but pocketed the pieces, giving up for the night. “Why do you want to learn it?” 

The artificer held her arm out, and her raven defender descended from its perch next to Velora, who didn’t even turn to watch it leave. It landed on Elaina’s arm, nestling its beak into the crook of her neck. “It would help me take care of him,” she said quietly. “Faster and easier than how I manage it currently.”

“You ever gonna name him?” Tack said with a teasing grin. She raised her hand to stroke the black metal.

“He has a name,” she responded. “Just not many people know it.”

“Does Velora?”

“No.”

Tack’s eyebrows rose. It was clear the two women were close. If it was that much of a secret, he didn’t feel right pressing. “Well, then I suppose I’ll have to keep calling him ‘The Bird’.” 

The corner of Elaina’s mouth tugged upwards and he could almost hear the touch of humor in her voice. “Call him what you’d like, Captain Idiot.”

“I deserved that.”

“You generally do.” She reached over and squeezed his hand once. “Goodnight, Tack. Sleep well.”

He stiffened instinctively, not at the touch, but at the mention of sleep. He forced his face to relax. “You too. Don’t stay up too late trying to solve the world’s problems.”

He was able to genuinely smile as she huffed and shoved his shoulder, watching as she disappeared below deck, before glancing up at Velora, who hadn’t moved an inch. He took a deep breath before whispering, “I don’t s’pose you could take the wheel a bit early?” He felt the chill fill his body, and took that as a yes, taking a step back, and releasing his breath as the wheel stayed steady. “Thank you,” he whispered, before turning to find his best friend.

**********

Velora heard the half-orc coming from across the ship as the sun settled beneath the skyline. She waited patiently for them to pull themself up so that just their face was visible above the floor of the crow’s nest. “Okay?” they asked, tilting their head to make it clear they were asking a question. Permission to come up, she guessed. 

“Come on up,” she responded, and they slowly but easily pulled themself onto the wooden floor, swinging their legs up and leaning against the mast that protruded through the center of the nest.

Velora was sitting now, her own back leaning against the edge of the nest, and she tilted her head to look up once more at the sky. “Did Tack send you?” she asked.

“Worried.”

“I’m fine.”

“Sure.”

Velora studied Jay, whose face remained as stoic as ever. “Was that...sarcasm?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, asshole,” she said. “I’m as ‘fine’ as you are ‘not hungry.’” Jay didn’t react, and she felt a little bad. “Okay, no, I don’t understand that yet and I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not.” Jay shrugged, an exaggerated movement, but didn’t respond. “You didn’t eat again today, did you,” she said softly. Jay’s piercing gray eyes finally stopped their intent stare, and dropped to the wooden boards. Again no response. “Jay,” she said, pleading. 

Jay looked up slowly. “Dead.”

Velora froze, before shaking herself. “Yes, I know you’re undead-”

“Not. Me.” Velora frowned. “You.” 

Velora felt her muscles lock as she stared at the pale half-orc, looking at her, really _at_ her, with a face that relayed so little emotion, yet somehow seemed almost understanding. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she tried, and they shook their head. 

“Not now. Once. Before.” 

“How-” she stuttered, “how do you know that?”

They shrugged. “Don’t know. Just do.” Velora was speechless, giving Jay the opportunity to wave a hand at the sky. “Helps?” The word was again accompanied with a head tilt.

Velora stared for another few seconds before releasing a choked laugh. “Yes, it helps,” she said, tearing her gaze away to look up at the sky. “It helps a lot.”

“Why?”

She’d never truly tried explaining this before. It was just something that people accepted. That she ran off and found comfort in the sky. But something about the half-orc’s easy manner and genuine curiosity, and perhaps a sense of kinship in experience with death, put her at ease.

“The stars,” she said softly. “They tell stories.” Jay grunted, waving a hand forward, asking her to continue. “The stars we see now...they died, long, long ago. But their light shines on in the dark for far longer, even after they’ve died. And we tell stories, based on those stars, in constellations.” 

She paused, considering her actions carefully, and Jay waited, patient as ever. She raised a hand to her necklace and removed it, clutching the blue center crystal in her fist. She waved a hand over it, murmuring an incantation. The crystal lit up and suddenly they were surrounded by stars, flecks of blue pulsing with soft starlight. Jay’s eyes widened in wonder, a smile spreading as they took in the glittering orbs surrounding them. “Beautiful,” they whispered.

“My brother gave me this crystal,” she said softly, “and my mentor helped me learn to use it this way, as a map of sorts. So even when the clouds block them, I always have the stars with me.” 

“Stories?”

She smiled. “I used to have a book I kept of them. Now I know them by heart.” She kept her eyes trained on the stars, unsure why she was telling all of this to the half-orc. “I was killed when I was little. Used as an example, a distraction to hurt my siblings. They brought me back, clearly, but it’s...I don’t know. It still scares me now. Death. The dark. The nothingness. I guess you might understand?” she asked, and Jay nodded. 

“Hurts.” 

She sighed, nodding. “Yes,” she said, then frowned as she heard the sound of someone climbing the mast, closing her fist around the crystal to deactivate it, the two enfolded in darkness once more. 

Lizzie’s head popped up from below and her eyes widened when she saw the two figures watching her. “Sorry,” she said quickly, beginning to pull herself down again. 

“It’s okay!” Velora called out, waving the girl up to join them. “Are you alright?” 

“I couldn’t sleep,” Lizzie said, hesitantly perching on the edge of the entrance to the nest. “I can go back, I’m sorry-”

“Don’t be stupid,” Velora said with a grin. “Was there anything in particular keeping you up?” Lizzie hesitated. “You don’t have to say if you don’t want to.”

“Just bad dreams.” Lizzie didn’t seem inclined to share more, curling in on herself. Jay and Velora glanced at each other, and Velora understood Jay’s helplessness in this situation. She wasn’t really the greatest with kids. Not like-

She lit up as she remembered what her brother used to do. “Hey Lizzie,” she asked, and Lizzie glanced up at her. “Want to meet a friend of mine?”

Lizzie’s brow furrowed and Velora saw her fighting to not leap away when the druid raised her hand to let the metal serpent she kept wrapped around her upper arm come to life, still metal, and slither on its own towards the girl. “What is that?” Lizzie asked, her voice tight as it slid off Velora’s arm and onto the wood between them with a thunk. 

“This is Simon. Simon, say hello,” Velora said, and Simon’s head rose then twisted so it was upside down in a rather ridiculous-looking position. 

“Hi, Simon,” Lizzie laughed, her fear forgotten at the silly sight, glancing up at Velora for permission to hold her hand out to touch the magic snake. Velora nodded with a grin, watching as Simon slid up the teen’s arm before tangling in her hair. “Hey!” she giggled, trying to pull him away. 

Velora used this time to try to figure out how to help the girl. She looked over at Jay, and her desperation must have shown clearly on her face. Jay gave a slow half-smile and gestured up at the sky. “Stories?” they suggested, and the elf sighed in relief. She reached over and squeezed their arm in thanks. 

“Lizzie, would you like to hear a story?” 

Lizzie, having successfully wrestled the snake into submission, looked up, her eyes lighting up with excitement. “Yes!”

And so Velora had a captive audience, Lizzie eventually moving to sit next to Jay, the two falling asleep leaning against each other, as she finished her tale of the Blue Feathered Serpent, her finger reaching up to trace the feather under her shirt. _I miss you,_ she thought, though if pressed, she wasn’t sure she could tell who exactly it was she missed at that moment. 

She closed her eyes and slipped into her own meditative trance, at peace in the crow’s nest beneath the stars.

**********

“MARY! ELAINA! Hands on deck, _NOW_!”

Lizzie startled awake at the sound of Tack barking orders. She leaped to her feet, disoriented, and immediately lost her footing. She would have fallen over the side of the crow’s nest if not for Velora’s quick reflexes, her hands shooting out to grab the teen’s shirt to keep her from toppling over. “What’s happening?” she whispered to the elf, who shrugged. 

“JAY! Down here with me. Velora, keep Lizzie safe up there!” 

The half-orc got to their feet quicker than the girls expected, giving a nod to Velora, and the elf understood. She was needed here. She grabbed the girl, who made to follow Jay. “We need to stay up here,” she said, and Lizzie opened her mouth to protest. “At least until we know what’s going on,” she continued, and Lizzie huffed, but saw the wisdom in the statement, moving to the side of the crow’s nest to watch the action unfold. 

Mary and Elaina had run from their respective areas of the ship, weapons drawn. “Where’s Lizzie?” Mary demanded. “She wasn’t in the cabin.”

“Velora’s got her in the nest. We’re being tailed,” Tack said, and Velora watched the two’s eyes widen in understanding. “Jay knows the drill.” 

Jay met the two women’s eyes and pulled their long hair in front of their chin to mimic facial hair. Elaina snorted and Mary grinned. “Oh, this is gonna be fun,” Mary smirked. 

“We’ve got five minutes tops before they pull alongside,” Tack said, all business, bringing the three back to the point at hand. “As long as Lizzie and Velora stay in the crow’s nest, this should be a routine scare.” All three nodded and Tack began walking below deck. He glanced up at where Lizzie and Velora were trying to watch the proceedings. He lifted a finger to his lips, winked, then descended to his cabin.

The wait was agonizing as Mary stood at the top of the steps, studying her sword. Elaina stood by the wheel, whipping her blade around, as it bent at the hilt and flipped around like a butterfly knife, whirling it methodically around her body. Jay stood, still as a stone, by the side of the ship black sword held, tip down, as they watched the people board _The Revenge_.

“Hello,” said a voice, too artificially sweet to be described as sincere, and a well-dressed blonde man, hair streaked with gray, emerged from behind two masked soldiers _._ Jay looked on, unimpressed. “I believe you have something of ours.” 

“Well, well, well,” Mary said, her voice dangerously playful with an edge of anger. “If it isn’t Sir Francis! Crawled your way back into piracy, I see?” 

The blonde man narrowed his eyes at Mary. He had a neat, pointed goatee and matching mustache, his pale skin just barely showing sweat despite the cool air, his chin tilted up as he gave her an arrogant sneer. “Pardon, have we met?”

Mary shrugged. “No, you were a bit before my time.” She glanced up from her examination of her sword as the older man bristled. “You seem as stupid as I was told, however.” 

The man, Sir Francis, waved a hand and from below the deck of his ship were a sudden flock of masked soldiers who quickly crossed the plank to surround the three on deck in a semicircle. “Perhaps not so stupid,” he responded, smug. “Give us the girl, and we may leave you with enough wreckage to float your way to an iceberg.”

“You chose the wrong ship,” Elaina intoned, not pausing from her rapid movements. 

“Stupid,” Jay agreed.

“Oh really?” Sir Francis said. “And why is that?” 

Mary heaved her sword onto her shoulder, slowly descending the steps, eyes trained on the blonde man. “You of all people should have heard of _The Queen Anne’s Revenge_ , Drake,” she sneered. 

The man’s eyes widened as he whirled around, looking between the three people he could see on deck. “What?” he exclaimed, drawing his sword. “No, it can’t be! That wasn’t what-”

“What’s the matter, _Sir Francis_ ?” came a growl from behind the soldiers, and below deck, two glowing blue eyes slowly emerged from the darkness. “Weren’t ready to meet a _real_ pirate?”

Tack was already normally a large man, over six feet tall, and broad in the chest. Now, emerging from below, his form seemed to have broadened, even more than before, his face and upper body covered in coarse black hair, long and wild, tearing through his shirt and coat, his once deep brown eyes now a glowing light sea blue, filled with a wild malice shining from underneath bushy eyebrows. His canines elongated and he lifted one side of his mouth in a bear-like snarl. 

He dragged his curved longsword on the deck beside him, almost lazily scraping a groove into the wood, his torn black coat billowing in the now icy wind. Smoke curled out around him in a hazy fog, only intensifying the glow of his eyes.

He lumbered up to Francis Drake who trembled, barely standing and frozen in fear, unable to even lift his rapier, and Tack towered over him, lifting the tip of his sword to rest just under the blonde man’s chin. “How about you answer some questions for me, eh _Privateer_?” he growled, his voice an octave lower than its already deep natural tone. The blonde man gulped and nodded. 

“What is your name?”

“Sir Francis Drake.”

“Good. And what are you, Francis Drake?” 

“I am a privateer of the Imperial Navy-” a sword sliced across his face and he howled in pain. 

“You are not. You are scum. Would you like to try again?”

The older man steeled himself. “I am a privat-” he couldn’t even finish the word before the blade once more sliced his body, this time slashing a deep wound across his chest. 

“It would seem you really are as stupid as they say,” Tack said, wiping the blood off his sword using Drake’s coat, the man panting as he gripped his chest in pain. “In that case, let’s try an easier question.” He grabbed the blonde’s face in one hand, lifting him by the jaw a full foot off the deck, forcing the wounded man to look at him, glowing eyes flashing with blue arcane energy. 

“Who am _I_ , little man?” Tack said in a low voice that somehow carried across the deck and up into the crow’s nest, where Velora felt Lizzie, stiff as a board, watching the unfolding scenario in shock. _Something’s not right,_ Velora thought, but was distracted by the man’s stammered response.

“Blackbeard. You’re Blackbeard.” The man looked ready to piss himself as Tack grinned, canines glinting in the light from above.

“Aye, you got one right. And for that, it’ll be a quick death for you,” Tack said but was startled by a voice from the crow’s nest.

“No!” Lizzie cried, scrambling down the mast before Velora could stop her. 

Mary tensed and Elaina stopped her movements, her sword clicking into place, ready to send her protector towards the girl the moment it became necessary.

Tack just watched Lizzie come forward, not dropping his sword from the man’s neck, but unsure how to continue. 

Lizzie stopped in front of the bleeding man. “Who do you serve?” she asked, her voice sharp. 

“I serve the Empress,” the man snarled, “Under the Letters of Marque, I bring glory to the Empire.” 

“That’s a lie,” Mary said, keeping her eyes trained on the privateer, trusting Elaina to watch the masked soldiers, and Tack with her sister. “You bring glory to no one. You traffic people as slaves, and are a disgrace to the Empress and to the Empire.” 

“It does not go against the law.”

“It goes against human decency,” Mary retorted. 

Drake smirked. “The new Empress doesn’t seem to care for that much, does she?”

Velora saw how Lizzie’s face changed. Saw her stiffen and try not to show it. Saw Mary and Tack watching her, waiting for some indication from the monk about what to do. 

_Who was this girl?_

She murmured something to Tack, who immediately turned to the soldiers. “Leave your captain behind, and you will be spared. Fight us, and we will throw your bodies to sink and rot on the ocean floor.”

Drake’s eyes widened. “No! Don’t-” Tack silenced him with a quick blow to the temple with the butt of his sword, and the privateer’s body crumpled to the deck. 

In an instant, the soldiers attacked. Mary held her own with her longsword, the enemy weapons clanging uselessly against her shield. Across the deck, Elaina had flipped off the top deck by the wheel to enter the fray in a whirlwind of blades and metallic wings whirling about her as she incapacitated enemy after enemy. 

Jay fought by Tack, whose fearsome swings singlehandedly felled any soldier foolish enough to attack alone. Velora saw that, despite the quick takedowns of the other crew, the crew of _The Revenge_ was being careful not to actually kill anyone. So she leaped off the side of the crew’s nest, turning into an eagle in midair, grabbing one crewmember at a time and dropping them back onto their own ship. 

At one point, she could have sworn she saw _two_ Jays in the fray and made a mental note to ask them about it later.

**********

Finally, when the deck was clear, and the opposing crew running for their lives on the other ship, they all stopped to take stock of the situation.

The ship was bloodstained, but not damaged at all, and quickly checking each other over, there weren't any significant injuries. Tack had reverted to his normal form, his coat and shirt hanging off his frame in tatters. Mary rolled her eyes, knowing who was going to have to fix it, before stiffening as realization struck. “Where’s Lizzie?”

“And where’s Drake?” Tack asked, and they heard a piercing scream from below deck, in Elaina’s workshop. The five rushed across the deck, thundering down the steps to see Lizzie standing over the kneeling form of Drake. 

“I've just shut off the flow of blood to your brain. You'll be dead in sixty seconds unless you tell me the truth.”

Mary froze when she heard Lizzie’s voice. It was cold, the chill so unlike her warm, bubbly sister that she almost didn’t recognize it. She stood in front of Drake who was propped up against the wall, paralyzed by whatever she had done to him. Her back was to them, though she must have heard them approach.

Drake choked out what sounded like an affirmative, and Lizzie continued. “Have you trafficked people?”

“Yes.”

“Is this common practice among the Sea Dogs?”

“Yes.”

“Do you regret it?”

Drake struggled for a moment, and Lizzie stared at him intently. “I wouldn’t lie if I were you,” she murmured. 

“No. I don’t regret it.”

“One more question, Sir Francis Drake,” Lizzie said, kneeling down in front of where he sat slumped, immobile. “Do you think the Empress would approve of what you’ve done?”

Drake’s face curled back into that arrogant smirk. “Yes. No doubt in my mind.”

**********

Tack saw the moment Lizzie’s heart broke. Saw it in the way her chest seemed to curl in on itself momentarily, the way she raised her head in a way meant to look intimidating, but was really to hold back tears. He saw her reach her hand back, the same chopping motion prepared that he had seen last week underwater with the gilled man, and stepped forward. 

“Not your call,” he whispered, and her hand dropped. “I’ll do it.”

He saw her jaw clench, and she turned away, walking past a stunned Mary, and he waited until he heard her footsteps disappear as she crawled up into the crow’s nest to drive his sword through the man’s chest. He leaned forward as Drake took his final breath, whispering in his ear.

_“Welcome to the crew, Drake.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, there's a Xena reference, no I feel no shame.
> 
> Also FUCK privateers.


	9. Zone of Truth

“What just happened?” Velora was the first to speak, breaking the fragile silence that followed the monk’s departure. It jarred Mary from her stupor, and she turned to follow her sister. 

“Mary, wait,” Tack said, and Mary whirled on him. 

“No, _no,_ not this time,” she snapped. “She needs me-” 

“She needs time. Give her some space.”

“No! I-”

“Mary, can you help me clean my workshop please?” Elaina broke through the argument, and Mary grabbed her hair, crying out in frustration. The workshop was indeed a mess, and some sort of altercation had clearly taken place before Lizzie pinned Drake, crimson stains smeared across the walls and floor. His body now lay still, oozing blood onto the floorboards. 

Elaina hesitantly approached Mary, gently taking her hand. “I can’t move his body out myself,” she murmured. “We all clearly need to talk,” she said, glancing up at Tack, who nodded. “But first, let Lizzie breathe.”

Velora fixed Tack with a glare. “You’re going to tell us what’s happening, correct?” 

“No,” Tack said, holding up a hand before Velora could argue, “but I am going to stand in support of anyone who does want to talk about what is happening or their past. And I will do that when everyone has calmed down.”

Velora frowned, but ultimately seemed to think that was fair. 

Jay turned to Tack. “Check?” 

Tack nodded. “Yeah. Give her a couple minutes, then you can check on her. Maybe Velora could go with you?” He phrased it as a question, directed at the elf druid. “Whatever you did last night seemed to help her.”

Velora squirmed. “I’m not really great with kids,” she started, but then Jay turned to her, head cocked in that way they had of silently asking, and she relented. “Yeah, I’ll try,” she said reluctantly. 

“Thank you,” Tack said. He turned to Elaina, who was still holding Mary’s hand. “When she’s done helping you, I’d like to talk to her.”

Elaina nodded. “She can help-” she gestured towards Tack’s tattered shirt and coat barely holding their intended forms. 

“Might help focus her, yeah.”

“I can hear you two, you know,” Mary said in a huff, though her irritation was subdued.

“We know,” Tack said softly, sharing a knowing smile with Elaina. “Send her up when you’re ready,” he said to the half-elf, before walking up the stairs to man the wheel.

**********

“Lizzie?” Jay peeked his head up at where Lizzie sat in the crow’s nest. 

Lizzie didn’t respond, curling her knees closer to her chest, staring down at the wood in front of her feet, eyes unseeing. Jay pulled themself up to join her, helping Velora up behind them. 

The two settled themselves near the girl, Jay next to her and Velora sitting across, leaning against the edge of the nest. They sat in silence for a bit, before Lizzie finally shifted slightly, most likely to try to get more comfortable. Velora caught a glimpse of green from inside the partial robe that Lizzie wore on her upper body, a flash of an object normally hidden. “Is that a book?” Velora asked.

Lizzie’s hand raised to touch it, but she didn’t pull it out. “Yes,” she said in a quiet voice. “My brother gave it to me.” 

“Your brother?” 

Lizzie nodded. “My brother, Edward.”

Velora’s brow furrowed. “As in, the Captain, Edward?” she asked, confused. 

“No. Different Edward.” 

“Is he older or younger?”

“Depends.”

Velora frowned. “On what?”

“We don’t know. Sometimes he’s a kid. Sometimes he’s an adult.” Lizzie shrugged. “Most of the time he’s a raven.”

Velora stiffened. “A raven,” she repeated. “Is he a servant of the Raven Queen?”

“No. He serves the Stormlord.” Lizzie focused on Velora for the first time since she and Jay had settled with her. “Why?”

“I have... I _had_ a brother,” Velora said, searching the girl's face for any signs of recognition. “He visits my family as a raven as well.” 

Lizzie sighed. “I guess the gods just like ravens,” she muttered, reaching up again to touch the book.

Velora decided neither of them were really in the right space of mind to discuss religion, and focused on the book the girl seemed to find comfort in. “What book is it?” she asked, nodding towards it.

“ _Le Comte d’Monte Cristo,”_ Lizzie responded in flawless Elvish. 

Velora’s eyebrows rose. _“That is quite the story,”_ she responded in the same language. 

_“I have it memorized,”_ Lizzie said evenly. 

_“Are you done?”_ Jay grunted in a language neither of the other two spoke, but their normally monotone voice was pointed, and the two got the picture. 

Lizzie gave Jay a small smile. “Sorry, Jay, that was rude. I said I have the story memorized. It’s called The Count of Monte Cristo, it’s written in Elvish.”

Jay nodded in understanding. “Memorized?” 

“Yes.”

“Don’t. Believe you.” 

Velora grinned as she saw what Jay was doing. “Yeah, that’s a pretty tall claim, Lizzie.”

“I do!” Lizzie said indignantly. 

Jay smiled, that half-smile that Velora was beginning to think they must have picked up from Tack, and Velora smirked at the younger girl, a dare clear in her voice as Jay crossed their arms in mock disbelief. “Prove it. I could read the book to check-”

“No!” Velora jumped as Lizzie cried out, the girl quickly curling her arm around where the book was buried in her clothes. “I...I don’t like people touching it.”

Jay and Velora exchanged a look, and Velora finally nodded. “Well then,” she said, settling back. “Why don’t you tell us the story in Common? I haven’t read it in a while. Do you know it, Jay?”

“No. Please?” This was directed at Lizzie, along with that cocked head.

Lizzie allowed herself a small smile. “I know what you two are doing,” she said, “but I’ll go along with it.” She closed her eyes, leaning back against the mast, and felt her body relax with every word she spoke. “Chapter one. The Arrival...”

**********

Tack saw Mary approaching from the corner of his eye, shoulders slumped, looking lost. “I know it’s stupid to ask how you’re doing, so I won’t,” he said, silently asking the ghosts to take the wheel so he could focus on her, relieved when he felt the chill acquiesce his wish. 

She didn’t respond and just waved him over to a bench they had installed by the edge of the ship. He sat down, shrugging off his coat and placing it beside him before holding his arm out, the sleeve ripped to shreds. She sat next to him, wordlessly taking his arm and running her fingers along the seams of the cloth, torn from his earlier transformation, gentle fingers smoothing across each tear to Mend it. 

She worked in silence for a while, before gesturing that she needed to switch to his other side. He did as she silently asked, sliding to the other side of the bench and holding out his other arm, letting her work in silence before he heard a sniffle. He turned to see tears streaming down her cheeks, her body heaving as she fought back sobs. “Hey,” he whispered, pulling his arm back and leaning forward to wipe away her tears. “It’s okay. You’re okay. She’s okay.” Her eyes were panicked now, and her breaths were coming in rapid intakes. 

He gently pulled her forward, giving her every chance to pull away, until she was tucked safely in his arms, her curly hair tickling his chin. “Breathe with me,” he murmured, taking exaggerated breaths to try to guide her towards a more even rhythm. 

_“How is she doing?”_ he heard the Message sent from Elaina in the workshop in his mind, and had to keep himself from sighing with relief. 

_“Not great. I could use some help,”_ he responded in a whisper keeping his breathing even. Mary didn’t seem to notice. 

Elaina soon came up the steps to the upper deck, quickly kneeling beside Mary, taking her hand. “I don’t know what’s happening,” she said in her quiet, certain voice. “But I know we’re here for you. You know that.” Mary’s sobs began to quiet, her breathing beginning to match Tack’s and the soothing circles Elaina was tracing on the back of her hands. “That extends to Lizzie too. We’re here.” 

Mary was breathing easier at last, tears still streaking down her face, her face still buried in Tack’s chest. She squeezed Elaina’s hand. “Thank you,” she whispered. 

Tack kissed the top of her head. “Of course.” Elaina just squeezed her hand back.

  
  


**********

Lizzie stopped mid-sentence to peer over the side of the crow’s nest. “I know this isn’t really the time,” she said slowly, and Velora glanced over to see what had caught her attention. “But...that _is_ a thing, right?”

Velora snorted. “Yes. But Elaina’s hopeless when it comes to romance.”

“Mary’s worse than her mom,” Lizzie groaned. They both turned to Jay hopefully.

They shook their head. “Idiot.”

Lizzie buried her face in her hands. “Gods, they’re never going to figure it out, are they?” 

**********

The six of them gathered in Elaina’s workshop. It was a little cramped, but they made it work. 

Lizzie had immediately gone to hug Mary. “ _Not now,”_ she said quietly in Nicodrani. Mary, to her surprise, had simply nodded, before going down to join the others in the workshop.

They all looked at each other uneasily for a moment. “I can create a Zone of Truth if we feel we need it,” Mary said hesitantly. “But I promise to be as forthcoming as I can, regardless of what we decide.” 

Elaina and Velora glanced at each other, some silent agreement passing between the two. “We will too,” Elaina said. Jay just nodded.

Tack was staring at Lizzie, who was staring at the ground, thinking hard. “I won’t lie,” Lizzie said finally. “But I’m not ready to talk about everything yet.”

“Does that seem fair?” Tack asked. 

“We didn’t hear anything from you, big guy,” Velora said.

Tack shrugged. “I don’t have much to hide,” he responded, “But I will be honest.” When he heard no objections, he continued, “Who wants to start?”

Lizzie and Mary exchanged a glance, and Mary nodded at her sister. “I guess I will.” Lizzie took a deep breath.

“My name is Elizabeth Boleyn. I am the Empress of the Dwendalian Empire.”

Whatever the others had been expecting, it certainly wasn’t that. 

“The Empress?” Elaina said in shock. Then her eyes shot to Mary’s. “But if you’re her sister-” Mary braced herself for the yelling, the accusations. Instead, Elaina went quiet, just thinking, which Mary thought might actually be worse.

Velora finished the thought. “You’re the Empress, and you’re the former Empress,” she said, turning to each in turn, then turning to Tack. “And you knew.” 

He nodded. “I knew,” he said. “I knew Lizzie’s mother, and figured it out from there.”

Mary could see Elaina was trying to process everything that was happening, and for once, she knew that she and Tack were not the people who could help. She turned a pleading glance to Velora, who caught her eye and noticed her niece's state of anxiety. She quickly took her hands and said some quick words in a language Mary wasn’t familiar with. She saw Elaina slowly calm, her only outward sign of distress the tapping of her fingers on her aunt’s palm. 

Lizzie hesitantly continued. “Our family -that is my parents, Mary’s parents, and my aunts- have been kidnapped and replaced with imposters. We don’t know why or what these things are.”

“That’s why I needed your help to get her out,” Mary added, trying to put aside her worry for Elaina. “I had to get her away without them realizing it was to save her. And it wasn’t hard to convince everyone I had turned to my...old ways,” she finished lamely. 

Lizzie looked at her sharply. “I knew,” she said. 

Mary sighed. “Lizzie, I was a monster. I really can’t blame them for assuming that I'd gone back to who I was. And after they’d had _you_ as Empress, compared to me-”

Something seemed to snap in Lizzie. “Cast Zone of Truth,” she interrupted, and everyone froze at the command. Even Elaina stopped to look up at the sisters in trepidation at the sudden tension.

Mary frowned. “Why?”

“Just do it.” 

Mary had never heard her sister's voice like this before. Cold, like it had been in the room with Drake just a few hours earlier, but also commanding. And angry. She slowly made the sign, and Lizzie didn’t look away from her the entire time. “Tack,” the monk said. “Start counting upward, by increments of fifty. Don’t stop until one of us says to.” 

“What-”

“Mary,” Lizzie said as her sister completed the spell. “We’re going to count the number of deaths we’re responsible for.” Mary’s eyes widened and everyone began to protest.

“No.” Lizzie spoke in a tone that silenced everyone with just that one word. “You all need to know who you’re dealing with.” She glared at her sister, her tone pointed. “ _All_ of you.”

Mary’s mouth gaped for a second, before her expression steeled. “I don’t know why you’re doing this,” she said, anger laced in every terse word. “But I really hope it’s worth it.”

“Lizzie,” Tack said quietly. “I don’t feel comfortable doing this.”

Lizzie tore her gaze from Mary’s to look at the paladin. He looked torn, and Lizzie felt her heart soften. “I’ll call the numbers,” she said quietly, and he nodded his thanks, relief plain on his features.

She turned her attention back to her sister. “Fifty.”

“Lizzie you’ve never killed-”

“I have.”

Mary paled at that, knowing that with the spell in place Lizzie couldn’t lie, but continued in a shaky voice, “Well, you still couldn’t have killed that many-”

“I am measuring myself by the same rhetoric you measure yourself,” Lizzie responded. “One hundred.”

Mary was speechless, but shook her head frantically. “Lizzie-”

“One hundred and fifty.”

“Elizabeth-”

“Two hundred.” 

“What is the point of this?” Mary roared, tears now streaming down her face once more as the horrified onlookers asked the same question. 

“I’m not a _saint,_ Mary!” Lizzie yelled back. “Just because the public hasn’t dubbed me ‘Bloody Mary’ does not wipe my hands clean of the deaths I have caused! I am not some savior. Me being a better ruler than our father is the lowest possible bar I could clear. Me being a better ruler than _you_ is an unfair judgment. And you continuing to treat me as a perfect person is not fair to me or to you.” 

Mary wouldn’t even look at Lizzie, at anyone. “Why now?” _Why in front of everyone?_ was what she was really asking, and they both knew it. 

Lizzie looked around the room, glaring at each person in turn. “Because if they’re going to judge you on your actions,” her gaze settled on Elaina, “then they can judge me on mine in the same way.” 

“This was a bad idea-” Tack started.

“No! No, this includes you too, Tack. I am not my mother, and my mother was not and is not perfect either.” Lizzie gave a humorless laugh. “And by doing this, I’m no better than my father. I am being selfish. But I refuse-”

“Not true.” Everyone was shocked again as Jay spoke. They had stood up at some point during Lizzie’s rant, and their face, normally so blank, was filled with rage. “You are better than your father,” they snapped, voice strangely full of emotion, and Tack reached over, concerned. 

“Jay, what-” They brushed his hand away. They all waited in silence as Jay fought to organize their words. 

“You would not. Do this.” They gestured to themself, their lifeless skin and pale eyes. “You would not. Do this. To me. Like he did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this a more angsty story? Yes. Am I sorry? No. Will there be humor? Of course. Is this a love triangle? VERY technically, but I promise a happy ending (hints in the tags tbh, I'm not really HIDING my solution to the love triangle dilemma).


	10. Finding Comfort

The silence echoed in the small room as they all stared at the undead half-orc. They waited as Jay once again tried to speak. “I-” they snarled, frustrated at not being able to express their thoughts. 

Velora slowly stood and put a gentle hand on Jay’s shoulder. “Hey,” she said, and they relaxed slightly at her voice. “How about this. Can you write it down? And Tack or I can read it out when you’re done.” Jay nodded. Elaina quickly grabbed some parchment and a pen and handed them to Jay, who sat down and began writing. 

Velora didn’t remove her hand, but glanced once more at her niece. Elaina met her gaze and slowly nodded. “Is it okay if we keep talking while you write, Jay?” she asked. “We’ll stop when you’re done, and there’s no rush if you want to stop to listen.” Jay nodded, and she squeezed his shoulder, turning back to the others. “Would you two like to sit down now?” she asked in a way that let them know that wasn’t really a request. 

The sisters wouldn’t look at each other, but sat as far away from one another as the room allowed. 

“Okay,” Velora said, breathing a sigh of relief. “Well, if your family is missing, I suppose you’re trying to find them?” she asked, addressing Lizzie. 

Lizzie nodded. “Yes. The information at the Reserve was limited, but we traced the type of magic to be similar to a type being studied by two arcane users, former Cerberus Assembly members, who fled from Wildemount to Tal’dorei...nearly forty years ago I think?” 

“Lizzie.” Lizzie looked up to see both Elaina and Velora looking pale. Velora was shaking, and now Jay, writing forgotten, was helping to hold her up, her fingers digging into their shoulder. It was Elaina who had spoken, standing and putting an arm around her aunt’s waist, eyes boring into Lizzie’s, former panic forgotten. Now, what Lizzie saw was pure dread. “Lizzie, _what were their names?”_

Lizzie glanced at her sister and Tack but they looked just as lost as she did. 

“Sylas and Delilah Briarwood.”

With those words, Velora fainted and Elaina bolted from the room.

**********

“Mary,” Tack said urgently, and Mary was already on her feet, approaching Velora’s unconscious form. 

“Go,” she said, and he took off after Elaina. “Jay, help me get her to Elaina’s bed,” Mary ordered, and they obediently picked the elf up, carefully setting them down on the artificer's unmade bed.

“Mary-”

“Not-” Mary took a deep breath, not turning to face her sister. “Not now, Lizzie. Go...go do whatever, I guess,” she said, already focusing on her healing magic.

Lizzie bowed her head and quickly exited, feeling dizzy the moment she felt the chill of the salt air. Regret and horror settled in the pit of her stomach as the events of the past hour set in. 

_No. NO!_ She gripped her head, feeling the pounding response.

**Y E S**

_What are you?_

**Y O U K N O W W H A T I A M**

The words slid in and out of each other, pounding and yet insidiously quiet as they echoed in her mind like the sounds of canon fire heard under the water. 

_Get out of my head!_

**W H Y W O U L D I D O T H A T**

_What do you want?_

**Y O U B E L O N G T O M E**

_Not yet, I don’t._ Lizzie fought hard to push the voice away, murmuring her mother’s lullaby under her breath. 

_“Abandon entouré d'abandon-”_

**S O O N**

With that, the sound receded, and Lizzie sagged against the side of the ship in relief.

Wait. The side of the ship?

She was leaning against the side of the ship, one leg raised as if to climb over the edge. She instinctively began to pull away, before pausing. She could feel the pull towards the water, the pull that had been there since she first saw the waves crashing against the cliffs surrounding Erdeloch. A pull that she had felt her whole life and never known the source.

She felt it pulling her towards the waves below.

_What is happening to me?_

She barely had time to finish the thought before she was hauling herself overboard into the tumbling sea.

**********

Tack raced after Elaina, who was at the bow of the ship, heaving. He gently pulled her hair away from her face, holding it back as she emptied the contents of her stomach. 

She finally buried her face in her arms, moving just enough for Tack to see she was breathing. “Elaina?” he murmured. “What’s going on?” 

Elaina raised her head, turning to face him. “It doesn’t matter where I run,” she cried, nearly hysterical. “I can’t outrun my family.”

He frowned. “Are the Briarwoods-”

“Gods, no.” She cut him off before he could even finish. “They-” her voice cracked, and she looked at him helplessly. He held his hand out, unsure of what she needed, but knowing an offered hand was a start with the half-elf. She grabbed his hand and pulled him close, wrapping her arms around him. 

He quickly wrapped her into a hug, feeling her relax into him. “It’s okay,” he said softly. “Mary and Jay are taking care of Velora. We’re going to make sure you’re okay. All of you.” 

She pulled back a little to glare at him. “You knew. About Mary.”

He sighed. “Yes. But it wasn’t my place to tell.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’ve guessed about me.” 

He shrugged. “Enough to know you grew up a noblewoman.” 

“I-” she cut herself off again, and even more than the unexpected hug and the throwing up, what threw him most off guard was how uncertain Elaina had become with her words. 

“Elaina. Whatever it is, we will figure it out. You are not alone, and we won’t involve your family unless you want us to.”

It seemed like this was the right thing to say because she nodded and pulled him close again. He hugged her once more, ready to hold her as long as she needed. “You can talk when you’re ready. Take your time.”

“Okay.”

**********

Velora woke to find Jay sitting on Elaina’s stool beside her, writing away on the parchment they’d been provided. When they saw her stir, they called out to Mary, who woke from where she was sleeping on the floor. She quickly got to her feet and hurried over to Velora. “How are you feeling?” she asked, pressing her hand to the elf’s forehead. 

“I’m alright, what-?” And she remembered.

The Briarwoods. 

“Oh gods,” she whispered, pulling her knees to her chest. 

Mary studied her for a moment. “Jay,” she said quietly. “Could I talk to her for a second?” Jay glanced at Velora, and her heart warmed at their silent question.

“I’ll be fine,” she reassured them, and they nodded, moving to sit at the base of the stairs, still writing away. She eyed Mary warily, and the cleric sighed.

“Look I know I- I know I’ve messed up. A lot. All the time really. And I don’t know if this is related or not, but it seems like it might be.” Mary sat down on the stool Jay had vacated, fiddling with her armor. “That first day, when I blinded you? I didn’t understand why you reacted the way you did.” Mary glanced up at Velora, who was still watching her carefully. “Elaina explained. Not everything!” she said quickly when Velora looked ready to bolt. “I don’t know _what_ happened, but she mentioned that you...aren’t very fond of the dark.”

“That’s an understatement,” Velora muttered. 

“Right. So, I asked her to help me make something. To apologize. I meant to give it to you sooner, but I wasn’t able to find a good time. Anyway, I hope that this will help.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a smooth, palm-sized stone. 

She placed it in Velora’s outstretched palm, and the elf examined it. It just looked like a normal stone. She raised a brow at the cleric. “Thank you for this...rock?”

Mary laughed nervously. “No it- Here. Let me show you.” She touched the stone and said in Elvish, “ _Sunset.”_ With that, the stone began to emanate a small amount of light, shifting beautiful colors associated with the light of the sun, setting on the water. “She mentioned you were also not...well, _fond_ of the gods, so I thought a sunset and not a dawn might be more appropriate,” Mary said. 

Velora smiled. “That’s very thoughtful.” 

Mary hesitated before continuing. “This was a little trickier, but Elaina helped,” she said before saying “ _Starlight.”_ With that, the shifting oranges and purples faded and were replaced with the bright, steady glow that resembled a star, but up close. The color, the light, all of it truly looked like she was holding a small star in her hand. 

She stared at it, rolling it around her palm in wonder. “You did this?” she whispered, tearing her eyes away from the light to stare at the cleric. 

Mary nodded, clearly still very nervous. “I hope it’s alright,” she said in a small voice. “I really am sorry.”

Velora had heard the tales of Bloody Mary, the hundreds of people executed in the name of the Dawnfather and the Empire. She had heard tales of this monster, this zealot gone mad.

But this girl, this woman before her? Clearly, the stories weren’t all true, at least not completely. Whoever Mary was now was a far cry from the evil monarch the rumors had painted her to be.

“Thank you, Mary,” she said, at last, smiling at the woman. “I will treasure this always.”

Mary’s relief was palpable. “I’m glad you like it. I hope it will help,” she repeated.

That’s right. The Briarwoods. “I think we need to call everyone back, don’t you?” Velora asked. 

Mary sighed. “I suppose, yes.”

  
  


**********

Mary climbed the steps to call the others and spotted where Tack was hugging Elaina. She felt her heart clench painfully and immediately berated herself. _They’re your friends,_ she thought. _You’re lucky to have that much._

Pushing those thoughts from her mind, she approached, unsure of how Elaina was going to respond. “Elaina?” she asked. She saw the half-elf stiffen and pull away from Tack to stare at her. Mary shifted uncomfortably under her scrutiny. 

Elaina stepped forward until she was less than a foot away, looking straight up at Mary. Mary stood completely still, not breaking eye contact.

“Mary Dwendal,” Elaina said, and Mary winced, never having felt more hatred for her name than in that moment. “That’s your name. But I’ve come to know May, who would give the shirt off her back for a stranger, and would take out an army to save her sister.” She hesitantly raised a hand, pausing near the cleric’s face, before settling it on her shoulder. “It seems to me you’re the same person I heard about. But the woman I know is making far better choices.” She said it with such certainty and understanding, Mary wanted to cry again.

Finally, she couldn’t contain herself anymore and pulled Elaina close. The half-elf, startled, hesitated before wrapping her arms around Mary. 

“I am sorry for running. I am...terrified,” Elaina said in halting phrases, rubbing Mary’s back in slow circles as she spoke. “The Briarwoods...if they were involved, it’s _bad.”_ She glanced back at Tack, who was watching them, a small smile on his face. He looked surprised when Elaina waved him over. “But we’ve beaten bad before. And now we have more help.” 

“Never thought you’d be the one giving motivational speeches,” Tack chuckled, gently pulling them both into his arms.

“I will gladly give you back that duty,” she said, miffed. 

“No, no, that was good!” Mary laughed, pulling away. 

All three were still laughing when Tack spotted something on the crow’s nest. 

“Elaina, did The Bird get smaller overnight?”

Elaina frowned. “What?”

“It’s a little far out to sea to be seeing a raven,” Tack said, and he felt both women stiffen in his arms. 

“A raven?” Elaina asked, and Mary was already pulling away.

“Where?” she demanded before spotting it on the lip of the crow’s nest. _“Edward!”_ Tack startled at his given name, but she wasn’t addressing him. Mary was catapulting down the steps, and the bird soared down to meet her on the main deck.

Except...it wasn’t a raven anymore. As it touched down on the deck, the raven grew taller, shifting and transforming to reveal a young man, about Mary’s age. He was human, or at least human-looking, with tousled blonde and black hair. He was dressed all in black, and his pale face was serious as he regarded Mary. 

“Eddie,” she gasped, stumbling up to him. He reached out a hand to steady her. “What is it?” 

“I look forward to a time I get to visit and it isn’t because someone is in mortal peril,” he said, but there was no humor in his voice. He looked worried, a far cry from the usual calm she had come to associate with her half-brother. “Things have been set into motion that go against everything The Six has fought to preserve.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Mary?” Tack and Elaina were hurrying down the steps, not having the same propensity for jumping down them that Mary did. “What’s going on? Who is this?” Tack demanded, hand at his sword. 

“This is my brother, please don’t attack him,” Mary said impatiently, before turning back to Eddie. “Is there anything you’re allowed to tell me?” 

“Not much,” he said. “Just that you have the tools to find our family, and-” he hesitated, and glared up at the sky. “I can _warn_ her even if she can’t stop it!” he yelled, and Mary watched wide-eyed. She’d never seen him _talk back_ to his god before. 

He shuddered as the Stormlord presumably responded. “Just-” His body spasmed as if electrocuted and he gave a furious huff. “Fine! Mary, I know this goes against who you are as a person, but try not to blame yourself for everything everyone does. It will only make things harder. _WAS THAT VAGUE ENOUGH FOR YOU?”_ he roared, and the sky itself rumbled in response. 

He hugged her quickly. “I have to go. Remember, I _taught you those spells for a reason,”_ he said before his body spasmed again. “That was PLENTY vague!” he yelled, before turning back one last time. “Please find them,” he whispered, his pleading blue eyes so similar to his, _their_ mother’s, that her heart ached. 

“I’ll try,” she whispered back, and he nodded, wiping at his eyes, before leaping into the air, turning back into a raven and flying away.

Tack and Elaina carefully approached the cleric. “Okay, so it looks like there’s a lot to talk about,” Tack said. “Let’s just grab Lizzie and head back down with Jay and Velora.”

Elaina looked around. “Where is she?”

Mary’s head shot up. “What do you mean, _where is she?”_

“LIZZIE!” Tack yelled.

“I’m here!” They all whirled around as, apparently from nowhere, Lizzie stood, sheepish but looking unharmed. 

Tack frowned. “Where were you?” 

“Crow’s nest.” Tack didn’t remember seeing her there when he spotted the raven, but he supposed she could have been hiding below the sides.

“You just missed Eddie,” Mary said carefully, the previous conversation clearly not forgotten. 

“He’s probably worried about Jane,” Lizzie responded, before hesitatingly breaching the subject they were both dreading. “Mary, I’m sorry. About before-” 

Mary held up a hand to stop her. “Don’t. It’s-” she sighed. “I won’t say it’s okay, because it’s not. And I don’t think I deserved all of that.” Mary was looking down, and missed the proud smile that curved over Tack’s lips. “But you were right, I shouldn’t have treated you as an idol, but we can talk more about this later.” 

Lizzie nodded. “I really am sorry,” she repeated quietly before heading below deck. 

Tack took her shoulder, gently shaking her. “And _that_ is what we call _growth,”_ he said with a grin. 

Mary pushed his hand away with a laugh. “Whatever, asshole. Let’s go figure all of...this out.”

The three went below deck and were met by Lizzie’s vaguely puzzled face and Velora’s grim expression. 

“I know there’s a lot to talk about,” she said quietly. “But I think we need to start with what Jay’s written.”

The three, immediately taking in the serious tone in the room, settled down quickly, Mary sitting next to her sister and Tack lowering himself to sit next to his best friend. 

Velora glanced at Jay for permission to start talking, and they nodded, sitting ramrod straight, hands placed on their knees, completely still as the elf began to read the careful writing aloud. 

“My name is Jay Grey. My father was an orc, a captain in the Kryn Dynasty’s army, and I am the bastard child of Frances Dwendal, sister of the former Emperor, Henry Dwedal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jay is based on Jane Grey, and she was actually the granddaughter of Henry VIII's sister, Mary. However, I already have two Marys in this story (Anne's sister and Mary I), so I took Jane's Mother, Frances, and made her Henry's sister instead.


	11. The Echo Knight

_“I don’t remember my mother. My father didn’t want me. Henry removed me from my mother’s arms as an infant, and I don’t know what happened to her afterward. I was born out of wedlock, and was the child of the enemy, though it was not clear to me what was worse to him: my orcish blood, or my father’s allegiance to the Dynasty.”_

_“The Emperor thought I might be of some use to him, and I grew up training to fight. Catherine of Aragon taught me swordsmanship for a time. You are more like your mother than you give yourself credit for, Mary.”_

Velora paused and Mary, whose mouth was hanging open, was staring at Jay, trying to find traces of their shared blood. “Thank you,” Mary whispered, and they nodded.

_“When I was thirteen, Henry traded me as part of a political deal with the Dynasty, and I was turned over to the care of my birth father, Suff Olk, a commander in the Bright Queen’s army. At first, they hoped to turn me into a spy, teaching me how to use dunamancy to enhance my fighting ability. I became an Echo Knight when I was twenty, a rare type of frontline fighter. I can summon echoes of myself to take a hit, to attack for me, or even to allow me to teleport to it and take its place.”_

_“Despite their intentions for me to become a spy, no one really trusted me. I was, at best, treated as cannon fodder. But I survived, despite everyone’s best efforts. Until one day, I was captured, wounded on the battlefield. I knew there would be no attempts to rescue me coming from the Dynasty. But all hope of at least a swift death disappeared when the Emperor came to see the prisoners acquired.”_

_“He singled me out, and realizing my new arcane training, tried to use it to his advantage in an experiment. I don’t know what he wanted. I just remember that after weeks of torture, of using my echoes in ways they weren’t meant to be used, I was stabbed with a strange black dagger, and felt pain the likes I had never felt.”_

_“When I awoke, everything was different. I felt...empty. My speech came slowly. I can still think, my mind just as sharp as it was before, but all of my movements and every word I try to say feel like I’m moving through tar, slowed, and restrained. And I look different. And I don’t think I age anymore.”_

_“I felt like I had become one of my echoes.”_

_“The Emperor was ecstatic, saying he had created a “Hollow One.” I don’t know what that means. But next thing I knew, I was put on a ship with orders to fight with the Empire once more.”_

_“But then I met Tack.”_

Tack’s head lifted and he looked at his friend intently. “Relax,” Jay said, and they all saw the tension in Tack’s shoulders dissipate. “Not my story.” Tack nodded, and Velora continued reading, her eyes flicking up to look at the royals occasionally, where Lizzie was focused on a point on the ground, taking in the information, and Mary was watching Jay with guilt in her eyes. Velora wondered if Mary ever didn’t look guilty.

_“Our ship was meant to take the men aboard the pirate ship prisoner, but due to an unexpected altercation, the fight ended, and it was just Tack and I left, my sword at his throat._

_“I didn’t want to kill him. He was a child, just fifteen. So I put away my sword, and we figured out how to sail the ship together. I won’t say more about that day or how we managed it. That is not my tale to tell. Tack will say more if he ever wants to.” Tack wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes. “I sailed with him for many years. Good years. I lost count of how many, to be honest.”_

“Seven.” 

Jay made a noise that sounded like an affirmative at Tack’s interruption, so Velora continued. _“I left to be on my own after that, roaming around Dynasty territory for a little while, trying to learn more about what I was. I promised to go back with Tack aboard The Revenge in two years, but lost track of time. He contacted me back to help him find Lizzie. And now I am here.”_

_“You two are not your father. You are not your mothers. You are your own people, and being Empress does not seem to be an easy job. But I can say with certainty that neither of you would do this to me, as your father did. That you are willing to be my friend, not just for what I can do, but because of me as a person, already proves that you are more worthy of the title of leader than Henry ever was.”_

_“Lizzie, you took one look at me, six feet tall with a sword as big as you, an undead half-orc, and apologized for scaring me. At that moment, I knew I had nothing to fear. Not everyone with your hair is like that, remember?”_

There was a stunned quiet as Velora lowered the parchment pages. Jay sat completely still, staring straight ahead. At last, Lizzie stood and walked over to where Jay sat, meeting their gaze, eyes at about the same height with her standing and them sitting. 

“You aren’t my friend, Jay Grey,” Lizzie said, ignoring the muffled gasps around her. “You’re my family, and _fuck_ anyone who thinks otherwise.” 

A slow half-grin slid across Jay’s face and they opened their arms to the redhead. Lizzie threw herself at the half-orc with a laugh. “Mary! We have a cousin!” 

Elaina nudged Mary who gave a start. “Yeah,” she said, going over and joining the hug. “Welcome to the family, Jay.” She laughed as a thought struck her. “Gods, wait until _Mami_ finds out our cousin is undead.”

“You know the funny thing is, I think they’ve had stranger surprises,” Lizzie muttered, and Mary ruffled her hair.

“Yeah, you mean like Anne’s secret daughter hiding in a monastery?” 

“Hey! That was nothing compared to Jane and Eddie!” 

“Wow,” Jay said, and now the half-smile was full as they held the two monarchs in their arms. “Weird family, huh?”

Mary and Lizzie exchanged a knowing look. “Just you wait, Jay,” Mary said with a grin.

“But don’t worry! They’re going to love you.” Lizzie patted their arm. “Or I’ll hide Mom’s books until they behave.”

Mary nodded solemnly. “That’ll set them all straight real quick.”

Jay’s smile faded. “Find?”

Lizzie leaned into Jay, her own good mood gone in an instant. “Yeah,” she said softly. “We have to find them first.”

“Maybe we can help with that,” Velora interrupted, and they all turned to where she and Elaina had been speaking quietly in a language none of them spoke. “Our family had- has?” Velora half asked Elaina, who grunted in frustration.

“Who knows with those two, honestly,” she muttered.

“Yes, well. Our family has ties to the Briarwoods.”

“What do you mean?” Mary asked. Elaina sighed, knowing she needed to reveal her identity herself.

She removed her goggles, sliding them off the top of her head and holding them still in her hands, before sitting up straight and looking up at Mary and Tack, chin held high, gaze steely. “My name is Vesper Elaina de Rolo. The Briarwoods killed nearly everyone in my father’s family. As a result of their actions, an archlich known as Vecna ascended as the ninth Betrayer god of the pantheon. He was defeated, at a great cost, by our family,” she gestured to Velora, “a group known as Vox Machina.”

A pin drop could be heard as they all gaped at the two women, who squirmed under their gaze. Then everyone began talking at once.

“Wait, _the_ Vox Machina? But-”

“His whole family? How-”

“A _god?_ But there are only eight Betrayer-”

“Long name.”

They all stopped at Jay’s quiet comment, and Elaina just laughed, letting herself relax a little at the familiar jab she had grown up with. “If you can believe it, Jay, I actually lucked out. My siblings have it far worse.” She snorted. “It’s my father’s fault. I think he just likes throwing his names around to make people feel lesser, and wanted us to get to do it too.” 

Lizzie was studying her, as if trying to place something. “Vex’ahlia!” she exclaimed, and Elaina nodded. 

“That’s my mother. And her sister,” she said, pointing at Velora who shrugged.

Lizzie’s eyes widened in realization, and she grinned up at Mary and Jay. “We’re not the only nobles on this ship,” she said with a grin, and Mary frowned. 

“What do you mean?”

Elaina sighed. “My father is Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo the Third.” She said the name as though it were second nature, all in one breath. She said it as if it was someone she wanted to forget. “He and my mother are members of the Council of Whitestone, the current ruling system of the city.”

“If it has to do with the Briarwoods, the restricted section of the library in the castle is our best bet for finding any information,” Velora mused, and Elaina nodded. 

“The question is how do we get in?”

“Wait,” Tack said, his brow furrowing. “If they’re your parents, can’t you just ask?”

Elaina's guard went right back up and she wrapped her arms around her midsection, looking away from the group. Velora took pity on her, and answered for her niece. “Elaina left on...well, really bad terms, to be frank. I don’t think Vex would let her anywhere near the library, much less the restricted section.”

Mary and Tack both looked like they wanted to press, but seeing Elaina’s tightly clenched jaw and glassy stare, decided against it. 

“We need more information anyway,” Lizzie said. “Mary has been trying to scry on our family, but something keeps blocking her sight.”

“Have you tried to Commune with Pelor?” Tack asked, and Mary flinched. 

“No.”

“What does that mean?” Lizzie asked, and to everyone’s surprise, it was Elaina that answered. 

“Communing would allow Mary to ask her god three questions directly,” she said quietly. “But Mary isn’t ready to face him.” 

“But until we can narrow down where they’re being held, we have no hope of finding them, no matter _what_ we learn about the Briarwoods!” Lizzie cried turning to her sister. “Mary, _please-”_

“No!” Mary snapped. “No, Lizzie, I can’t.” 

She felt a gentle tug at her sleeve and turned to look at Jay. “Not your father,” they reminded her.

Mary closed her eyes, willing her tears back. “I’m- I’m going to my room for a bit,” she said in a small voice, leaving quickly. 

Lizzie dropped to the floor, her head between her knees, fighting her own tears. “I hate this,” she whispered, all attempts at a facade completely vanished, leaving just the fifteen-year-old girl she tried so desperately to hide. “I just want my family back.” 

Tack exchanged a look with Elaina, who looked exhausted and worried, but nodded at the girl. He went over and sat next to her, resting a gentle hand at her back. 

“We’re going to find them,” he murmured. “Mary will get there. And we’ll figure out how to research the Briarwoods. We will get your family back, I promise.”

Lizzie wouldn’t even look at him. “Okay,” was all she said in a dull voice, before rising and leaving. Tack looked up at Elaina helplessly.

“You check on Mary,” she began, but was cut off as Velora pushed her forward. 

“No, you can _both_ check on Mary. Jay and I’ve got Lizzie,” Velora said firmly, ignoring Elaina’s protests. “It’s almost sundown. We’ll bring by some food later, and we can regroup in the morning.”

After the two left, Velora glanced at Jay. “They’re really never going to figure this out, are they?” she said.

Jay shook his head. “Idiots,” he agreed.

**********

“Mary?” Elaina said, knocking lightly on the door. “It’s me and Tack.” There was silence inside, and the half-elf looked up helplessly at Tack. “What do we do?” she whispered. 

Tack squared his shoulders, reaching for the handle. “I hope you’re decent, we’re coming in,” Tack called, before opening the door. 

Mary was curled up in the corner of the room, leaning against two walls, eyes unseeing with tears pouring down her face in twin silent streams. 

Elaina and Tack moved quickly, Tack sitting across from the frozen woman, and Elaina sitting next to her, hesitantly putting her arm around Mary’s shoulders. “She’s not made of glass,” Tack said pointedly. Elaina glared at him, but pulled the taller girl closer, tucking her head into the crook of her neck.

“Mary, I know you’re scared,” Tack said softly. “But you were the one who said that Pelor had to still have faith in you to give you your power. Think of all the good you’ve done over the past two years with Elaina and me. Remember the swamp?”

Elaina picked up his train of thought. “The traffickers-”

“That swarm in the marshes-”

“The wasp nest in the dining hall-”

“Gods, the _dragon,_ there nearly weren’t any scales _left_ to make the armor with-”

Mary just pulled inward even more. Tack sighed. “I know your fire scares you sometimes,” he said. “But it’s your fire that keeps us going.”

Elaina looked down at the crying cleric in her arms and made a decision. “Tack, if you breathe a word of this to anyone, I will make you wish Mary hadn’t destroyed the wasps' nest.” He immediately leaned back, just watching the two. 

Elaina pulled one of Mary’s hands into her lap, playing with her fingers. “My mother and I didn’t always get along,” she murmured. “She’s a follower of Pelor too. Sometimes, arguing with you, it’s like arguing with her. But her faith seemed to come from chance and circumstance, like it was just there for her convenience. Your faith comes from deep within you. You believe so fiercely, in your god and in your friends and family, and that's the fire that Tack is talking about, that drives us forward.”

“My mother used to sing a lullaby. I didn’t understand it at the time, but I do now. I’m not a singer, we all know that. But I’ll try, because I think you need to hear it.” 

All of this was said in a low voice, whispered into Mary’s hair, and Tack looked on, a small smile playing at his lips even as his heart clenched. _Stop that, you idiot,_ he tried to argue with himself, but the ache wouldn’t go away.

He settled for ignoring it as Elaina took deep breath, and began to sing. Her voice wasn’t perfect, or powerful, but now, the first time they had actually heard her _trying_ to sing, it was silvery and clear.

_As the moon kindles the night_

_As the wind kindles the fire_

_As the rain fills every ocean_

_And the sun, the earth_

_Let your heart kindle my heart_

_Take my heart, take my heart_

_Kindle it with your heart_

_And my heart cannot be kindled without you_

_Let your heart kindle my heart_

  
  


As she sang, Mary’s body began to relax, her tears slowing as her eyes closed, until the last line was sung for the last time, and her body slumped against Elaina, asleep. 

“You did it,” Tack whispered, and Elaina looked down in wonder.

“Yeah, I did.” Tack got up to leave. “Don’t go,” Elaina pleaded, and Tack paused, brow furrowing. 

“You’ve got her,” he responded. “I have to get back to my cabin. Do you want a blanket?”

Elaina had never been good at reading people. It was easier with Tack and Mary after two years of living with the two, but it wasn’t an exact science. She _could_ see, however, that Tack was clearly upset about something, but she had a feeling now wasn’t the time to push it. So she just nodded, and he went over to the bed on the other side of the cabin and brought back a wool blanket, draping it over the two women. 

Elaina frowned as she remembered a conversation, all the way back from when they first met. “Tack,” she said slowly. “Didn’t you say the ship only had two beds, that first day Mary and I came aboard?” He nodded, confused. “One is in my workshop. Is this the other one?”

He froze and she knew she had caught on to something. “We would have noticed if you’d brought a new bed aboard,” she said accusingly. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

He just shrugged. “I’ve spent a lot of my life sleeping on the floor. I don’t mind.” He gave her his trademark half-grin. “Couldn’t have you noblewomen sleeping on the cold hard ground.” He reached his hand up as if to tip his hat, and realized it wasn’t there, spotting it in another corner next to the pallet on the floor where Lizzie slept. He caught himself mid-movement and just ran his hand through his hair as he turned to leave. “G’night, Elaina.”

She wanted to ask him to stay. She wasn’t really sure why, but she knew it just made sense, to have him there, with them. But something about the way he held himself now- 

She had a feeling he wouldn’t say yes. And after the day they’d had, she really didn’t think she could take that rejection. So she just sighed, pulling the blanket tight around her and Mary, and said to the closed door, “Goodnight, Tack.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lullaby Elaina sings, Kindle My Heart, was originally used in the movie A Little Princess (1995), and is sung more as a platonic love between daughter and father, thus why it would have made sense for Vex to sing it to Elaina. I do like how it's a song that could be romantic, or could be platonic/familial, and that really fits with why Elaina would be comfortable singing it even if she's not ready/willing to admit/aware of her feelings for Mary.
> 
> I used this version by Karliene as the basis of it as it's used in this story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paD1elwPik0


	12. Measure of Worth

Mary woke to find herself leaning on Elaina on the floor of her quarters. She blinked the sleep from her eyes, and stiffened when she remembered the night’s events. 

_Did she really sing to me?_

She twisted in Elaina’s hold to look at the sleeping half-elf. Her goggles had slid down from her head in the night, and Mary carefully removed them from where they were tangled in her black hair, setting them down on the floor beside them. She had one arm slung around Mary’s shoulders, and her head was propped up on her arm. It looked incredibly uncomfortable, yet her face was peaceful, without its usual stress lines. 

_She’s beautiful._

Mary’s heart clenched at the thought, and she began to slowly remove herself from the woman’s grasp. Elaina murmured something, still mostly asleep. “I’m just moving you to the bed,” Mary whispered, scooping up the small, lithe half-elf with little issue. Elaina unconsciously burrowed into the cleric’s arms with a hum, and Mary just shook her head sadly. _It’s her and Tack, you know that,_ she scolded herself, pulling back the covers and setting Elaina down on the bed. Elaina immediately settled, rolling onto her side, hand reaching under her pillow, and gave a small grunt of confusion when she didn’t find what she was looking for. 

Mary scanned the room before zeroing in on what she knew Elaina wanted. She picked it up, before lifting the pillow slightly to place the sword Elaina had created, the blade folded into its hilt, into her grasping hand. The moment she had it, Elaina relaxed once more and fell back into a deep slumber, and Mary laughed softly, pulling the covers over her.

She went above deck to see the sun just beginning to rise over the horizon. Tack was already at the wheel, leaning on it heavily, head bobbing as he fought to stay awake. Mary crept up the side steps, avoiding the creakier ones with practiced ease, and well out of his fist’s range, yelled “Do you need to go back to bed, Captain?” 

Tack shot upright. “I’m awake!” he yelled on reflex, before her words sank in. “Rude.”

“You’re falling asleep.”

“Am not.”

“Tack.”

“I’m fine!” he cut her off with a glare when she tried to interject. “I’m _fine._ You, on the other hand, had quite the day yesterday. Please don’t start.” He said when she tried to argue again. 

“You’re starting with me!”

“Yes, because you want to find your family, and to do that, we have to work through your issues with your past. My sleep has no bearing on that.” Mary wanted to argue, wanted to point out that the circles under his eyes were only getting darker by the day, that he looked worse every morning than after any fight they’d fought together. But one look at his haggard face told her he wasn’t giving in. 

She turned in a huff, leaning on the banister next to the wheel. “Well it worries me, so it has bearing on _that,_ if you care,” she muttered. 

“One crisis at a time,” he said in response, as though he said it a lot. Which, considering he was always dealing with her and Elaina, she wouldn’t be surprised. 

“There’s no crisis.”

“Then why won’t you Commune with Pelor?” Mary didn’t have a good answer for that. “Talk me through it. I know you have reasons.”

Mary clenched her fists, and kept her face hidden, facing away from her friend. “I did...really bad things. As Empress.” 

“Such as?”

“Are you really going to make me say this?”

“No. If you don’t want to say, keep on bottling it up. But I don’t think that’s healthy, personally.”

“You are such a hypocrite.”

He did chuckle at that. “Someday, Mary. Someday.”

She sighed, closing her eyes tight as she spoke. “I ordered the death of hundreds of people. I ended at least half of those lives myself. The numbers can’t be accurately counted because so many died at the hands of the Assembly. I killed my father. I nearly killed my mother-”

“But you didn’t.”

Mary stopped, heart beating as she tried to keep from crying again. “Lizzie was the only thing that stopped me,” she whispered. 

“No one could do that before, though.”

“I- yes.”

“The first sign of change. What happened, after,” Tack paused before continuing, and she could somehow _hear_ him using air quotes, “‘Lizzie saved you?’”

“Pelor took away most of my powers.” She had never said it out loud. She had never told Lizzie, her mother, even _Jane,_ she never told any of them. “He took everything away except for my Light spell.” 

“Why do you think he did that?”

“To punish me.”

“Are you sure?” Tack stepped up next to her, gently taking her hands in his. “These hands inflicted so much pain,” he said softly. “But it seems to me you had to, just to survive. It doesn’t make it right, but your god let you keep those powers, and you survived being in a position few could. But when you surrendered to your mother, to Lizzie, to your family, don’t you think maybe he knew you were in good hands? That maybe he was giving you space to heal?” 

Mary stared down at her hands. Hands that had killed, burned, destroyed the lives of so many. “You clearly have a lot of power now,” he continued, turning her hands palm up. “So he’s letting you gain more abilities, but it’s all different this time 'round, isn’t it? Did you know how to Mend things before?”

“No.”

“In fact, I rarely see you use magic offensively. Was that your choice?”

“Yes. I- I don’t want to hurt anyone with it.” 

Tack squeezed her hands. “I really think you should talk to Elaina about that.” Mary’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Just trust me. You two have more in common than you think.”

“I suppose.” Mary stared at their joined hands for a moment before Tack coughed loudly, dropping them, and stepping away. 

“Anyway,” he said, rubbing his neck. “Last time we were in port, I asked Elaina for some help getting this in case you wanted to try it, though at the time I didn’t realize how important you being able to Commune would be. Here.” he pulled from his coat pocket some sticks of incense and glass vials filled with water. “Elaina and I had to guess at what kind of incense you’d need, but the water is holy water, I made sure before I bought it.” 

Mary stared at him. “Tack you didn’t have to-”

“Yeah, I did,” he said gruffly, thrusting the items into her arms. “Just- you’re not a monster, okay? And if Pelor says you are, he’s going to have several people ready to fight him.” 

“You think you’re ready to fight a god?” Mary didn’t really know what to do, how to react to Tack’s kindness. He just did things, said things like this with no expectation of anything in return, and it absolutely baffled her. 

He seemed to shed his discomfort to grin at her. “‘ _The glory of the Storm Lord lives through your own glory on the battlefield,’”_ he quoted, and she laughed.

“I’m not sure that’s what that tenet means,” she teased. 

He shrugged. “I guess it’s up to interpretation.” He turned back to the wheel. “Would you mind waking Elaina up? We’re heading towards an area of the sea I would really like to avoid if possible, but with all that happened yesterday…”

“You lost track of where we are,” Mary finished. He shrugged again, and she shook her head as she went down the steps to the main deck. “You’re lucky she likes you, Captain,” she said, “or she wouldn’t be waking up from her precious sleep to help you navigate every two hours.”

“You’re lucky she likes _you,_ ” he shot back, “Or you wouldn’t have someone to keep you entertained when there’s no one to heal or fight.” 

She laughed and stopped at the step. “Tack?” He looked down, brow raised in question. “Thank you. Truly.” 

He just grinned, and bowed slightly at the waist. “Of course, m’lady.”

“Oh, don’t you start!”

**********

_“Let them go!” Elaina was straining at ropes securing her arms to her sides, kneeling far, too far away, from Tack and Mary, suspended, unconscious, in midair._

_Sharp bangs from a firearm sounded around the dark room they were held in, the shadows wisping in and out of her vision. The walls themselves seemed to shimmer and shift. She saw her sword just ahead, and gave a shout, trying to reach for it, even bound as she was._

_A loud shot rang outright by her ear and she flinched away. A familiar figure walked around from behind her, his arrogant voice filling the air. “I’m sure you wish you had more…” he trailed off glancing at her, then back at the weapon in his hand. His gun, the one that started it all, the smoke spilling from it surrounding him, a void even in the dark of the room. “Well, more_ useful _magic right now, don’t you?”_

_She snarled as her father picked up her sword. “Leave them alone!” she yelled, straining once more against her bonds, and to her surprise, they snapped. She surged forward, pushing the six-shot pistol to the side, reaching to grab her sword from his pale hands-_

_Only to be pulled back by vines snapping out from the darkness behind her, wrapping tight around her hands and slamming her to the ground. She saw stars at the impact of her head on the hard rock surface beneath her, crying out in pain. “I’m afraid there's no running now, darling,” came a second familiar voice, her mother’s dark tan skin just barely visible in the low light. “There are choices to be made.”_

_Her father raised his gun, first to Tack’s head. “Will it be him?” he asked, smirking when she screamed. “Or her?” he pointed the six-barrel weapon at Mary._

_“Leave them alone, PLEASE,” she begged, fighting against her mother’s Grasping Vines._

_“Vesper, you’re okay,” she heard a third voice, smaller but with no less authority than her parents, whispering in her ear. “They’re not your parents. Look,” Elaina looked back at her parents to see they had transformed. Where her father once stood, she saw a taller man with short brown hair, chiseled, ageless features, fangs protruding from where his canines should be. His arm was wrapped around a woman with dark auburn hair, pale with burning blue eyes. They both smirked as they reached out their hands in tandem._

_“I bet you wish you had magic now,” her mind’s approximation of Delilah Briarwood sneered, as Sylas bared his teeth at her, glinting in the little light of the dream._

_“You don’t need it,” Pike said in her sure way. “Because you have your friends to help you.”_

_She saw a hand rise in the corner of her eye, but where she expected to see her aunt’s gauntlet, she instead saw Mary’s hand twist to cast a spell ahead of her. The Briarwoods screamed as Daylight poured down from the sky, its light and heat a welcome change from her frigid dream. Then movement caught her left eye and she turned her head as much as she could just in time to see Tack’s sword raise and send a Tidal Wave at the two figures, sending them tumbling out of sight._

_“You’re going to be fine, Vesper,” came Pike’s voice once more. “Trust your friends.”_

_The familiar waft of her aunt’s scent swirled around her and Elaina called desperately._

_“Aunt Pike?”_

“PIKE!”

Elaina shot up in bed, barely missing Mary who jumped back to avoid getting hit. “You okay?” Mary asked.

“I- Yes, I’m fine,” Elaina muttered. “I just thought I smelled…” She took a big whiff. “No, that _is_ Frankincense.” 

“Oh, yeah, Tack got it. He said you suggested it?” 

Ah. “Yes, that’s right. My aunt uses it, and Sarenrae is...similar on the surface to Pelor, I think. Are you feeling better, then?” Elaina studied Mary, who was reaching into her pocket. 

“I am. Thank you for-”

“Don’t mention it,” Elaina said quickly, her cheeks burning, remembering the night before, that she _sang_ in front of the two. 

“Thank you for last night, then,” Mary tried, then shuddered. “No, that sounds weird too. Here. Thank you.” She slapped something into Elaina’s hand before hurrying out the door, calling over her shoulder, “Tack needs help navigating. That smell seems important to you, so maybe it’ll help you when he ends up frustrating you!”

In her hand was one of the sticks of incense. She smiled and took a deep breath, inhaling the familiar fragrance. “We might be seeing you sooner than I thought, Aunt Pike,” she whispered, standing and making the bed before heading to her own room to get changed.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Instagram for updates, art and extras! https://www.instagram.com/crit.icalsix/  
> Updates on Wednesdays and Saturdays, 9:30 pm est.


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